Another member of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) confessed before a Chittagong court yesterday to being involved in a mugging incident in Sadarghat, Chittagong last month.
Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Abdul Kader recorded the confessional statement of Minhajul Islam Sajid, 24, following which Sajid was sent to jail, said Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Kazi Muttaki Ibn Minan of Chittagong Metropolitan Police.
Sajid was produced before the court around 3:30pm, and the session ended at 6:30pm, the police official told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Sajid admitted that he was actively involved in the mugging case saying that the operation had been conducted in a bid to collect fund for the militant group and carry out the expense of the organisational activities.
“A member named Rubel trained JMB activists in arms before the mugging operation and they conducted it from a business farm at Sadarghat,” the ADC said.
Police sought remand for Sajid yesterday, but the court scheduled the hearing of the remand petition tomorrow [today] and sent him to jail.
Sajid was arrested early yesterday by a team of detectives led by ADC Babul Akhtar on a tip-off in Nagarpur area, Tangail for his alleged involvement in the September 23 mugging incident.
On September 23, a team of JMB activists blasted several grenades while mugging a local businessman named Satya Gopal in Majirghat area of Sadarghat, which killed two JMB men.
During investigation of the bomb blast, police found JMB’s involvement and arrested five JMB members including Towfiqul Islam Javed, 22, head of the outfit’s explosive wing in Chittagong, in the city’s Khoyajnagar area on October 5. Police also found nine handmade grenades, ammunitions and a massive amount of explosives in his possession.
A team of Detective Branch took Javed along to a raid for arms recovery in the city’s Oxygen area, where Javed was killed in a grenade explosion.
The rest of the arrested activists confessed during initial interrogation that eight of their members had conducted the mugging in Sadarghat area, where they snatched Tk5.40 lakh away from Satya Gopal, manager at Shah Corporation, and left him critically injured, who later died.
During the mugging operation, they blasted grenade in a bid to show their strength, but ended up accidentally killing their two fellow militants – Rabiul and Rafiq – on the spot, they said.
The detainees also confessed to being involved in the dounble burder at a shrine in Bayezid area on September 4.
