The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said it has detained eight members of a new faction of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (New JMB) from Narayanganj and Comilla with huge amount of bomb-making material.
RAB said the detainees, belonging to the Sarwar-Tamim faction, were planning subversive activities.
According to RAB, Sarwar Jahan alias Abdur Rahman alias Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif was the chief of New JMB while Gulshan attack mastermind Tamim was the second-in-command of the group.
"They have admitted to being active members of JMB," RAB 11 commander Lt Col Kamrul Hasan told the media at Narayanganj on Friday.
Five of them – JMB coordinator Md Jamal alias Rasel Siraji, 45, Khandker Abu Nayeen aliam Nayeem Jihadi, 49, Nurul Absar, 27; and Narayanganj's Mohsin, 52, and Jabir Hawladar, 22 – were detained from Siddhirganj when they were holding a meeting.
Based on their information, RAB detained Aktaruzzaman Maruf, 32, Mawlana Omar Faruk, 32, and Kashem Munshi, 31, from Comilla's Gouripur.
They were detained between Thursday evening and Friday morning.
All of them are trained in making bombs, RAB said. A huge number of jihadi books have also been seized.
RAB said the men had got together for about a year and a half and that Rasel Siraji was their coordinator.
"They have stored explosives at various places to carry out subversive activities. They used to make fake national identity cards to rent houses and used Facebook to preach and spread extremism.
"Recently, they introduced a new e-commerce business – Notun Diganta. They used the business to connect with people on Facebook and send people various posts inciting extremism," RAB said.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
