In a cinematic operation, members of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh killed a policeman and snatched three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway yesterday.
However, hours later, one of those three JMB operatives was picked up from the bordering areas of Shafipur in Tangail district.
Police also detained three other suspected JMB men – also from Shafipur – in connection with the rare prisoner snatching incident.
Around 10:15am yesterday, convicted prisoners Salauddin alias Salehin alias Sajeeb, Rakib Hasan alias Russel and Zahidul Islam alias Mizan alias “Boma Mizan” (the English translation of Boma is "explosives") were being taken to a Mymensingh court from different jails in Gazipur’s Kashimpur.
Salauddin and Rakib, both of whom were members of JMB’s highest policymaking body Majlish-e-Sura, are death row convicts in cases filed in connection with the 2006 bomb blasts in a Mymensingh cinema hall. Mizan has been given various jail terms of up to 50 years in connection with different bomb blast cases.
When the prison van carrying the trio reached the Signboard area in Trishal, a truck blocked the way of the van on the highway. Soon after, three microbuses converged on the van.
Witnesses said the men inside the microbuses started firing and hurling bombs at the van, killing one of the police constables and injuring two others, including an assistant sub inspector inside the van.
The JMB men then snatched the keys from a critically wounded constable who later died in hospital, opened the prison cell and fled the scene with their leaders.
Around 4pm, police captured Rakib and three other suspects from Shafipur area in Tangail. The three other men are Zakaria, Raihan and Russel. Police also recovered a revolver, two bombs, four mobile phone sets and a microbus from Zakaria’s possession.
Injured constable Atiqur Rahman died on the way to hospital. The other injured constables were Md Sohel Rana and Sabuj Miah. SI Habibur Rahman also sustained bullet wounds in the attack. Sohel and Habib are currently undergoing treatment at the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
Mahfujul Huq Nuruzzaman, deputy inspector general of Dhaka Range, said several teams of police and intelligence agencies had been working on the field to arrest the two other absconding convicts and those involved with the sensational snatching.
The DIG also said Border Guard Bangladesh and immigration authorities have been put on high alert so that none of the absconding JMB operatives and their associates could flee the country.
The prisons around the country, especially those where JMB and Jamaat men have been kept, were also put on red alert.
The Dhaka Range of police have meanwhile announced bounties of Tk2 lakh on the two JMB leaders on the run. The home ministry and police have formed two separate committees to probe into the incident.
Witness account
Claiming himself to be a witness, Md Shahjahan, a member of the local Ameerbaru Union Parishad, said: “I heard of the sounds of several explosions and gunshots. Then I saw the microbuses cordoning off the van from both front and back sides.
“Around 15 of the criminals were with firing from their pistols. Some of them shot at the policemen [inside the van] snatched the keys from them,” he said.
Shahjahan said he immediately reported the incident to Firoj Talukder, OC of Trishal police station. “The criminals then sped north with the JMB men.”
Constable Sabuj Miah, driver of the van, said: “A truck at first obstructed the van. Simultaneously, criminals riding a white microbus opened fire. Within a short time, they left the scene along with the JMB men.”
He also said the criminals shot at Constable Atiq to snatch keys from his possession for unlocking the handcuffs.
Jail officials in Kashimpur said all the three convicts were fettered before they being taken out of the jails around 8am.
Abdur Razzak, senior superintendent of the High Security Jail in Gazipur, said: “Rakib was detained at the High Security Jail, Salehin at Kashimpur 1 and Mizan at Kashimpur 2 jail.”
Injured Constable Sohel said there were 25-30 criminals.
Salehin (38)
According to police and jail officials, JMB Majlish-e-Sura member Salehin had 42 cases filed against him. Of those, he was handed down death penalty in three cases, including one for explosions at a cinema hall in Mymensingh in 2006.
He was orginally from the Bandar upazila in Narayanganj district. He was a student of the Dhaka University of Science and Technology in Gazipur.
Arrested in 2006 for conducting militant activities, Salehin he had been living in the Kashimpur 1 jail since 2010.
He is also a charge-sheeted accused in the case filed in connection with the 2004 attack on late Professor Humayun Azad.
Rakib HASAN (35)
Accused in at least 30 cases in connection with militancy, another JMB majlish-e-sura member Rakib Hasan alias Rasel, 35, was a resident of the Bongshibel village under Melandaha upazila in Jamalpur district.
He was given death sentence in the Mymensingh cinema hall explosions case, and lifetime and 14 years jail terms two other cases.
Boma Mizan (35)
Boma Mizan, accused in 19 cases, was a resident of the Shekhervita village under Jamalpur Sadar upazila. He was given 30 years jail for the Mymensingh cinema hall explosions, 20 years for illegal possession of explosives, lifetime jail in another case. He was arrested in the capital’s Mirpur in 2008 in a nightlong drive by RAB and police.