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Banned Islamist militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) was reportedly targeting Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with other VIPs in a bid to draw the attention of the international militant organisation Islamic State (IS) and jump-start its |
To implement their plan, the JMB militants had already gathered large amounts of explosives and were reportedly waiting for an opportune moment to carry out the attacks.
The plans came to light after detectives of Dhaka Metropolitan Police held seven JMB members, including the outfit’s acting chief, from Ashulia landing station area in the early hours of Friday.
More than 10kg of explosive gel, four brass idols, books and leaflets preaching militancy were also recovered from their
possession.
Without giving details on the type of the explosives gel, police sources said the material would have made powerful explosives once added with powdered brass.
Primary interrogation of the seven also revealed that the JMB had plans to snatch Ansarullah Bangla team chief Jashim Uddin Rahmani from police custody, in a manner similar to the previous snatching of three top JMB members in Mymensingh’s Trishal earlier this year.
The seven arrested JMB members are acting chief Abdullah Al Tasnim alias Nahid, 29; Nayem Ali, 28; Sikandar Ali alias Noki, 25; Mahmud Ibne Bashar, 23; Masum Billah, 26; Fuad Hasan, 18; and Ali Ahmed, 24.
The JMB acting chief – who faces at least 20 criminal cases – had arrest warrants issued against him as he had been evading court appearances since securing bail from a court in
January.
In a press conference on Friday, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective Branch, said the arrested JMB activists were planning attacks on different major targets including country’s VVIPs and VIPs.
Monirul did not mention the names of the targeted VVIPs, but Bangladesh has only two persons with the status President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The joint commissioner added that the JMB members had also admitted to targeting high-profile personalities in the hopes of drawing the attention of the IS through potential media
coverage of the attacks.
The plan was also a part of an attempt to revive the JMB whose members were hiding in different parts of the country, he said.
With the help of telecom specialists Bashar and Noki – who were both arrested – acting JMB chief Tasnim had also allegedly tried to contact the IS through emails.
Detectives said Tasnim regularly received advice on how to run the JMB from JMB chief Saidur Rahman who is in jail.
“Establishing communication with the IS would have only been possible by causing large-scale destructive activities,” said Monirul.
Some of the JMB members had also collected passports as part of their plan to go to Syria and Iraq for joining the IS, he added.
Tasnim was also working to recruit meritorious students of public and private universities, the DB official said, adding that Bashar and Noki were working at field level to recruit potential members. Bashar is a student of Dhaka University and Noki is a student of North South
University.
