Huji planned to form a ‘robber wing’
They planned to form a “robber wing” of Huji in the country’s southern and northern regions.
As per the plan, the banned militant outfit leaders managed to communicate with 20 people, who were involved in petty crimes like snatching and theft. These people were asked to use chloroform on their victims, said officials of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit.
The leaders wanted 30 percent cut for the “welfare” of the wing.
The wing was supposed to take care of all legal issues of the members if they got arrested. It was also supposed to pay for arrested or on-the-run gang member’s family expenses.
The CTTC unit learnt the latest strategy of Harkatul Jihad al Islami after interrogating six robbers, who were arrested in the capital on December 26.
Three arrestees -- Abul Miah, Rafiqul Islam, and Abdur Rahman -- gave confessional statements under section 164 before a Dhaka court on Tuesday.
Three other arrestees -- Billal Hossain, Nur Alam, and Akter Hossain -- would be placed before the court today after the end of their five-day remand.
“We have got some clues and information about the absconding Huji leaders and activists. We are now conducting drives to arrest them,” SK Imran Hossain, assistant commissioner of CTTC unit, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The arrestees used to get instructions directly from Huji leader Md Ujjal alias Ratan, who is convicted in the August 21 grenade attack case and is now in Kashimpur High Security Jail, said a CTTC top official, requesting anonymity.
“Ujjal used to contact them over phone,” he said, quoting the arrestees.
Asked about getting mobile phones inside the high security jail, another CTTC official said they learnt from an unverified source that the Huji men managed a SIM by spending Tk 400 and a mobile phone for Tk 1,000.
“We are now verifying the claim. When we manage to collect evidence, we will request the jail authorities to take action,” the official said, wishing not to be named.
Jailer Bikash Raihan, who was transferred to Manikganj jail from Kashimpur High Security Jail on Saturday, told this correspondent yesterday that it was impossible to use mobile phones inside the high security jail.
“We check prison cells daily, and there is no chance of getting phones inside,” Bikash added.
This is not the first time a Huji robber gang was arrested by the law enforcers. Before the arrest of the six, 12 members of the outfit’s “robber wing” were detained on March 4 last year. They were planning to rob a bank branch in the capital’s Jatrabari, DB officials said.
The detectives also recovered a rifle, a homemade gun, four pistols, 41 bullets, and huge quantity of gunpowder from the 12 robbers.
Investigators said the outfit’s gang members were found involved in nine robberies in Dhaka and nearby areas last year. They were collecting funds to get their leaders released from jail, they said.
The wing had a plan to have robberies committed across the country when it would go into full operation. They were even able to form a supply chain of collecting chloroform, they added.
Interrogating the arrestees, the investigators came to know that Ujjal alone masterminded the plan, staying in prison.
Whenever a robber was arrested and sent to jail, Ujjal tried to convince them that if anyone shared a portion of the collected money for religion, then the crime would not be a sin, they said.
Saiful Islam, deputy commissioner of CTTC unit, said a number of robbers now out of jail on bail got involved with the militant outfit and were committing robberies. But many of them did not have any idea that they were working for a banned outfit, he added
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