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| Bangladesh |
| Militant den busted in city |
| 2010-07-31 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Police yesterday busted a militants' den at Mirpur in the capital and seized a firearm, ammunition and bomb-making materials. They also recovered 35kg of powder which they suspect to be explosives. They sent the powder to Detective Branch of police to know for sure what it is. They recovered a homemade grenade, 36 grenade cases, a pistol, a sub-machine-carbine, 18 bullets, batteries and wires, 150 to 200 clocks and three bags of metals, which police believe are meant for use as splinters. There were 35 books on jihad and Bengali translation of the holy Quran as well. None was arrested and police are yet to find out which organisation was behind this. Officer-in-Charge of Shah Ali Police Station Abdul Latif said the clues indicate that the militants were trying to make time bombs. He said they sent the powder to Detective Branch of police to verify if it was explosive. The recovery prompted investigators to examine whether the militants, who are yet to be identified, were trying to launch attacks at a time when the trial of war criminals has just begun, police said. The den was in a rented room in a three-storey building on Road-10 of Uttar Bishil in Mirpur. Landlord Musharraf Hossain discovered sacks and cloth-wrapped packages containing arms and powder in the rented out room on the top floor of his building around 10:00am. Everything in the room was packed, even the gun and bomb-making materials. He had broken into the room as his tenants had been traceless since July 10, the day he asked for their particulars (photo copy of the national ID card) with photographs. The police were informed and they reached the spot around noon. They were examining the recovered materials at the time of filing of this report at 9:00pm. "The tenants had sought time till July 15 for providing me with the particulars and left the house keeping the door locked," said Saju, caretaker of the house. Four people aged between 28 and 35 rented the room on July 1 for Tk 2,400 a month. They told Saju that they were from Patuakhali and they hawked gas for refilling cigarette lighters. "The men rarely talked to neighbours. They appeared to be less interested in having unnecessary interaction with us and were hardly seen outside the room," said Parvez, a next-door neighbour of the four men. Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque said, "The amount of 'explosive materials' recovered is enough to make at least 1,000 grenades." He said they were still unable to confirm which organisation the den belonged to. "We are also investigating whether empathy for war criminals being tried had made militants to get organised in this way," Shahidul Hoque told reporters visiting the spot after the recovery. |
| Posted by:Fred |