Members of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HujiB) were planning to break their detained leaders out of custody by conducting attacks on prison vans as they were being transported to court from jail.
They were gathering members with a view to carrying out massive destruction after Eid-ul-Fitr to draw attention and seek support from the newly floated regional militant platform Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The elite Rapid Action Battalion revealed the information following the arrest of a top leader and 11 other members of the group that came into being in early 1990s. Its ultimate goal is to launch a jihad and impose its version of Islamic rule on the country.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of RAB first arrested five HujiB members from the Sadarghat area of the capital around 6:30am on Saturday. They were trying to leave the capital and were heading for Barisal, Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of the legal and media wing, told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
The arrestees are Maulana Mainul Islam alias Mahim, 35, chief coordinator of the Bangladesh wing of AQIS, Mufti Jafor Amin alias Salman, 34, an adviser to the AQIS Bangladesh, and three other active members – Saidul Islam alias Sayeed Tamim, 20, Mosharraf Hossain, 19, and Abdur Rahman, 25.
Based on information gleaned from them, the RAB team conducted another drive in the capital’s Airport Railway Station, and arrested five other members when they were leaving for Khulna. They are Al-Amin alias Ibrahim, 28, Mozahidul Islam alias Nakib, 31, Ashraful Islam, 20, Rabiul Islam alias Hasan, 28, and Habib Ullah, 26.
Interrogating the arrestees, the elite force came to know that two of their members lived at a house in the capital’s Mirpur 1 area. Shahidul Islam Sagor, 29, and Altaf Hossain alias Mamun, 26, were arrested around 1am yesterday, Commander Mahmud said.
From the house, RAB recovered a huge amount of chemicals and other bomb-making materials, 15 explosives devices, sharp weapons, 149 jihadi books and 25 training documents from the house.
The house was rented to gather members of the outfit from across the country and make explosives to conduct the attacks in the capital after Eid, the RAB official added.
The elite force earlier this year busted a number of militant dens in Chittagong and also arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Shafiur Rahman Farabi, the prime suspect in the Avijit Roy murder case.
RAB says the activities of HujiB and other militant groups were almost halted after a crackdown by law enforcers. But they sought to regroup inspired by last year’s video message by al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri to float their wing in the subcontinent.
Other law enforcement agencies also confirmed that local militant groups were working together since last year since their aim is the same – to topple the democratic government and establish Shariah Law.
RAB, however, did not find any link between the 12 arrestees and any other militant group or newly-floated platforms like Bangladesh Jihadi Group or Junud at-Tawheed Wal Khilafah. Top leaders of the HujiB are now detained at Dhaka Central Jail and Kashimpur High Security Jail.
Commander Mahmud said one of the top leaders, Mufti Moin Uddin alias Abul Jandal alias Masum Billah alias Kaza was organising the group from jail by sending letters and making telephone calls.
Moin was given death penalty in a case filed over the bomb attack on former British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in 2004 and is being held at Dhaka Central Jail.
HujiB members are also accused of launching bomb attacks on Pohela Boishakh celebrations, rallies of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Udichi and the Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue, grenade attack on former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and planting bomb at Kotalipara to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The group was banned on October 17, 2005 for their anti-state activities. Its leaders and supporters are also involved with some Islamist parties including Islami Oikyo Jote and platforms like Hefazat-e-Islam.
As per directives of Moin Uddin, RAB says Mainul and Zafar were trying to collect fresh members through Facebook and other social media platforms under the name of “Dawat-e-Tabligh” and “313 Badr Soinik (or soldiers).” Their aim was to establish the AQIS wing in Bangladesh, Commander Mahmud said.
Another high official of RAB, requesting not to be named, said the HujiB members had planned to gather at least 150 members.
Commander Mahmud said the detainees were preparing the members in three phases. In the first step, those who accepted their friend requests were called Dawat-e-Sathi (associates). Those who promised to work for the group were labelled as “Fee Sabilillah” while the ones ready to join the jihad and sacrifice life called “Sahidi Kafela.”
The arrestees are part of a 20-member team who were supposed to take physical training at a madrasa in Bogra. The training also included bomb-making techniques, analysing security measures taken by law enforcement and intelligence agencies and operating arms, he said.
Once the team was ready, their plan was to break out all of their leaders by attacking prison vans. “Primarily they had plans to release Moin Uddin by cutting the rods of a drain line that goes inside the Dhaka Central Jail. But analysing the situation, he asked his followers to attack the prison van while he was on the way to court.”
They chose to attack prison vans after a similar successful operation by Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) members in Trishal in February last year in which three top leaders of the outfit escaped in the deadly attack.
Two of the leaders later fled to India and were found to have been involved in the Burdwan blast in October the same year. Indian intelligence officials said the JMB had plans to kill the Bangladeshi prime minister and other influential leaders.
Commander Mahmud said had the HujiB men been successful in the prison van attack, they would have attacked Kashimpur jail in a bid to free their leaders.
Asked about the financing of HujiB’s regrouping process, the RAB official said they had come to know about a person named Rafiq, who sent money from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. He maintains a Facebook page under the name of “Fidai Mawla.”
RAB said they would take legal action against the 12 arrested HujiB members.
