[Dhaka Tribune] In movie-style high drama, an attempt was made to snatch Mufti Hannan, one of the biggest turban criminal masterminds, from police custody on Monday evening.A prison convoy carrying bully boyz en route to Kashimpur Central Jail was attacked near College Gate in Tongi around 6pm by a lone bomber.
Tongi SP Harun-ar-Rashid confirmed that the would-be rescuer were tossed into the calaboose.
Mufti Hannan, a death row convict, was read out his death warrant earlier in February. He had also filed a review petition against the sentence.
According to Tongi OC Firoz Talukdar, when the prison convoy was passing through College Gate area, a young man attacked the van with a pair of crude bombs, which missed and went
kaboom!harmlessly on the road.
A nearby traffic patrol was alerted by the kaboom. Rushing to the scene, they managed to capture the young man, who has since been identified as Mostofa Kamal, 25, from Mymensingh.
Mostofa has been captured with about a dozen crude bombs and Tk7,500 in cash. During his primary interrogation, he told the police that he was paid Tk10,000 to hurl the bombs at the prison van.
It has been confirmed that some of the prisoners on the van are close associates of Mufti Hannan, chief of a faction of Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI
Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west.
B).
When contacted for further details, Senior Jail Superintendent Mizanur Rahman said four prisoners had been sent out to appear before a court on Monday.
Mizanur said: "Four vans had been despatched and all four have returned."
Asked whether Mufti Hannan or any of his associates were able to escape during the rescue attempt, Mizanur said they had all returned to the prison.
Mufti Hannan’s faction of HuJIB was allegedly involved in the August 21 bombing on an Awami League rally, the 2001 Ramna kabooms, the 1999 bombing on a cultural event of Udichi in Jessore and an attempt to assassinate the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet in 2004.
He was sentenced to death for the death of three people in the attack on Bangladesh-origin envoy Anwar Choudhury. After his appeals were rejected by the High Court and the Appellate Division, the jail authorities read out the death warrant to him on February 6.
Earlier, Sherlocks had announced they had captured three bully boyz over the past two weeks from Dhaka who were planning to bust Mufti Hannan out of prison. Two were placed in durance vile
Please don't kill me!
from Mohammadpur on February 22 and one was seized from Shahjahanpur on March 1.
Authorities had also claimed that HuJIB was going to attempt to break Mufti Hannan out of jail before his execution.
The HuJIB has carried out at least 14 attacks in which over 100 people have been killed since its formation in 1992 with a view to establish Shariah Law in the country.
According to law enforcers, the plan was very similar to the one used to snatch three condemned JMB bully boyz from police custody in 2014 killing a police constable. Two of the bully boyz have since escaped to India but the third was recaptured within hours by the police.
The audacious rescue involved over two dozen bully boyz rushing the prison van in Trishal in Mymensingh.