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| Bangladesh |
| Mirpur ammo seizure led to Comilla raid |
| 2008-12-25 |
| Tuesday's busting of two JMB operatives with grenades and bomb in Comilla is another blow at the law enforcers who had a feeling that the militant outfit would not be able soon to organise again after the execution of their key leaders. To their utter dismay, the law enforcers came to know how the operatives of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh were organising again under the leadership of Maulana Saidur Rahman, the outfit's new ameer after Abdur Rahman's execution in March last year. The recovery of grenades and bomb and arrest of Aiyub Ansari alias Masud and Abdul Alim alias Nayeem was the outcome of an intelligence move based on information disclosed by recently arrested JMB operatives Mohammad Hanif and Rafiqul Islam, officials of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said. Investigators also came to know from other JMB operatives arrested at different times that Saidur is hiding somewhere in the country and leading the regrouping move as the outfit's chief. Intelligence officials have learnt that Saidur is a former ameer of Habiganj district unit of Jamaat-e-Islami. His son AHM Shamim, chief of JMB's IT unit, was arrested on September 7, 2005 during the crackdown on JMB and is now in jail. "After Abdur Rahman's arrest in Sylhet in March 2006 we came to know that Saidur Rahman helped the JMB chief a lot when he was hiding in the north-eastern district. But we did not know then that Saidur was going to be the next chief of the militant organisation," Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, additional director general of Rab, told The Daily Star yesterday. "Shamim was a close aide of Ataur Rahman Sunny [Abdur Rahman's younger brother and chief of JMB's military wing]," Gulzar said. But even after the arrest of Shamim and Sunny in 2005, investigators did not have information on Saidur's involvement with the JMB let alone his status as its next chief. While Abdur Rahman was looking for a safe hideout, Saidur arranged a house for him at Tilagarh in Sylhet town and ensured security, food and "everything he needed" until his arrest, said an intelligence official. A Sylhet court tried Saidur in absentia and in January 2007 sentenced him to 14 years' rigorous imprisonment in an explosives related case. When the Rab mobilised forces in Sylhet looking for him, Saidur went into hiding. The elite force conducted several raids to arrest him but to no avail. "JMB operatives have changed their communication strategy. They now rarely use phone for communication and rather exchange information physically as they used to do just after coming into operation openly," an intelligence official told The Daily Star, requesting anonymity. Hanif, arrested on November 16 in Mirpur with explosives including grenade-making materials, and Rafiq, arrested on October 25 in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj, told investigators about their activities in different areas. "It is certain that they [Hanif and Rafiq] had a plan for subversive activity. But we are yet to know whether they had any plan to lodge any attack on Khaleda Zia's rally or they had other targets," said another Rab official. Meanwhile, Masud and Nayeem were brought to Dhaka yesterday morning for primary interrogation at the Rab headquarters and were taken back to Comilla in the evening. Investigators would interrogate the two if the court places them on remand. Rab men recovered three improvised hand grenades and a 10kg bomb from a JMB den in Nabiabad village under Debidwar upazila of Comilla and arrested the two JMB operatives, around four hour after BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia addressed an election rally 4km away. Two militants Shahed and Mostak managed to flee. A Rab-11 official said their forces defused the grenades and detonated the 10kg bomb recovered on Tuesday. The Rab official said police would seek remand for Masud and Nayeem after they are handed over to Devidwar police. Security was beefed up yesterday in border areas following the arrest of the militants and recovery of explosives in Debidwar. Meanwhile, Rab men recovered two more improvised grenades from a pond and a canal in Nabiadi village early yesterday. |
| Posted by:Fred |