Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir are planning to foment violence in the country by killing VIPs and secular-minded people, a police detective has said.
According to the detective official, Jamaat and Shibir have already sent their trained operatives to the field to implement what has been called “Mission 1st November.”
“Primarily we have got a list of seven names. Six of them are influential lawmakers of the ruling Awami League. At least one of them is known for his secular views and has demanded speedy trial of the war criminals,” the official said.
He also said that they had got this sensational information by interrogating Masud Rana alias Sumon, 24, who was arrested when he was trying to flee after killing a police officer in Dhaka’s Gabtoli on Thursday.
Based on information given by Masud Rana, police conducted a raid in the Kamrangirchar area and recovered a number of bombs and a huge stash of bomb-making equipment.
The official, who was present during interrogation, quoted Masud Rana as saying that he had joined Shibir a couple of months back after finishing his training in Bogra.
Masud came to Dhaka with his leader Enamul Haque Prokash with the purpose of taking part in the Mission 1st November.
Enamul had divided his followers into several groups and assigned various areas of the capital for them to keep surveillance. Masud was tasked with keeping an eye on Kamrangirchar. He was given a camera to take photographs and analyse security weaknesses of the area.
They would take cover sometimes as a rickshaw-puller and sometimes as a street vendor to avoid raising suspicion.
In Kamrangirchar, they set up their camp in a house owned by a person named Kamal, who is known locally as a Jamaat leader. One of the reporters yesterday visited the house but could not reach Kamal.
Police are now trying to get as much information as possible from Masud, particularly about their activities in Bogra and their leader Enamul Haque Prokash.
Based on information given by Masud, Bogra police on Friday arrested some 25 people in the northern district town, of whom 21 were said to be Shibir members.
They were arrested in separate drives in a hostel in the older part of the Borga town on Friday morning and the Adamdihi upazila in the district on Thursday night.
The arrestees include Adamdighi upazila council vice-chairman and local Jamaat unit chief Yunus Ali; Bogra sadar upazila chairman and local BNP unit vice-president Rafi Ahmed; general secretary Mehedi Hasan; and former sadar upazila council member Toufiqul.
They had all been sent to Dhaka on Friday evening. Bogra police chief Md Asaduzzaman said they had made the arrests following requisition from Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
When contacted, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque said: “An organised group is behind the killing of police’s ASI Ibrahim. Following interrogation of the one arrested, we have come to know that he belonged to Shibir.”