[Bangla Daily Star] Police yesterday arrested Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (Huji) operative Abu Obaida alias Harun at the district's Sonagazi upazila. Obaida, 28, stands accused of plotting to kill Sheikh Hasina in Sylhet around eight years back. Nizamuddin, officer-in-charge of Sonagazi Police Station, said they made the arrest at a house in Bhuiyan Bazar of Char Chandia around 3:00pm. He said they contacted the Sylhet police to enquire about Obaida after reading a newspaper report Sunday. As soon as they got confirmation he is indeed wanted in at least two cases, they launched a hunt for him.
Along with some other militants including now detained top Huji leader Moulana Abu Sayeed, Obaida had been involved in plans to attack the Awami League president at an election rally in Sylhet on September 26, 2001. But the night before, a bomb went off at the house they were staying to prepare for the attack. Obaida was injured and two other militants killed in the accidental blast.
Y'mean God struck one dead and maimed one?
He was arrested at the scene and treated under police custody. Two cases--one under Explosive Substances Act and the other on murder charges--were filed in connection with the incidents. An ex-student of Patia Al Jama'atul Madrasa in Chittagong, Obaida is a charge-sheeted accused in both the cases. He came out on bail nine months after his arrest, and did not appear before the court concerned.
Comes as a surprise, dunnit?
He went to Kuwait and returned home after a year's stay there.
Got a job, perhaps? Usually they go to Soddy Arabia or Yemen to bone up on their Islam.
The court issued a fresh warrant for his arrest on June 10 this year.
Talking to newsmen at the police station, Obaida denied any links to the Sylhet blast.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
He said he went there with his friends to visit Hazrat Shahjalal's shrine.
"Yeah. I wuz just visitin' and somebody sez 'Here, hold this!' an' sticks a bomb in my hand. Lemme tell ya, I passed that sucker right off and then it explodes! Never seen anything like it! That's how I got this scar down the middle of my face."
Locals said he has lately been identifying himself as a Jubo League activist.