Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives stockpiled a huge cache of grenades and other explosives as part of a plan to carry out attacks across the country on March 25, the Detective Branch (DB) of police said.
The militant outfit also plans to attack religious programmes, priests and Pirs.
The DB came to know about the plot while interrogating three arrested JMB members following a raid on a bomb-making facility in the Shah Ali police station area in the capital’s Mirpur 1 neighbourhood.
DB South Deputy Commissioner (DC) Masrukur Rahman Khalid told the Dhaka Tribune that the JMB had large-scale sabotage plans in Bangladesh.
The DC said seven men were arrested of whom three were JMB members, but two other members were not present during the raid. They were not arrested.
The DB is carrying out multiple operations to track down the remaining two suspects, the DC said.
He said the JMB was setting up communications to carry out their plans in the hope of attracting the attention of international terrorist organisations.
According to DB sources, fugitives Imran and Shakil lived with the three arrested members of the JMB in Mirpur.
Shakil served as the armed forces boss for the JMB in this area. He is a diploma engineering student and is proficient in using different electrical circuits and timers to make explosives.
Fugitive Imran alias Rana alias Hiran worked as regional commander of operations in Dhaka and its environs.
A police source said Shakil was trying to perfect the “local hand-made grenade.”
Before joining JMB, many members know little of making bombs. That is why many members of the outfit are injured in explosions while trying to assemble explosive devices.
“If we can arrest Shakil, we will get clear information on how much reserve the JMB has in regards to bombs and other explosives,” the source said.
Investigating officer Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) and the Bomb Disposal Unit chief Sanwar Hossain said two of the three arrested JMB members were bomb makers. “We have got some important information from them. This is being scrutinised.”
From the early night of December 24 to 4pm, a 14-hour raid on a JMB hideout in Dhaka’s Mirpur 1 area was conducted by law enforcement personnel.
Police arrested JMB members Abu Sayeed alias Russell alias Salman, 22, Ilyas alias Omar Faruk, 23, and Mohsin Ali, 20. Eighteen grenades and hand bombs and large quantities of explosive materials were seized.
