On August 15, 2017, Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) conducted a drive in Hotel Olio International, located in Panthapath near Dhanmondi 32 in the capital, based on a tip that a militant was holed up there.
Later, the militant Saiful committed suicide by setting his own explosives on fire.
Sources from CTTC said that Saiful was planning to use his explosives in the program that was being held that day in Dhanmondi 32 no road in honour of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's death anniversary.
Ever since then, CTTC has been on the hunt for the people behind the planned attack.
Humaira, alias Nabila, chief of the women’s wing of militant group new JMB, was one of the people responsible for the planning, according to police.
Rise to militancy
Daughter of a renowned businessman, Humaira, or Nabila, joined North South University after completing her studies from Viqarunnisa Noon School.
In NSU, she met Tazrin Khanam Shuvo, whose brother Akram Hossain Niloy is an important JMB leader.
Influenced by Shuvo, Nabila gradually became involved with militancy. In a short time, she became the chief of the sister wing of JMB, and started going by the name "Bat Woman" in her own communication channel.
CTTC has confirmed these details.
Very recently, Nabila was studying in Lincoln University in Malaysia, where she came in touch with Akram Hossain Niloy, who was a student of the same university.
Just like Niloy, Nabila is alleged to have had contacts with Rohan and Nibras, the militants who were responsible behind the Holey Artisan attack.
Involvement with August 15 planned attack
On April 4, Nabila was captured from her parent's house in Siddheswari in the capital. Since Thursday, she has been facing interrogation in CTTC custody.
According to Deputy Commissioner of CTTC Muhibul Islam Khan, Nabila was recruited into militancy through Niloy and his sister.
At various times, she was responsible for funding new JMB's planned militant attacks, he said.
In one such instance, Nabila was involved with the funding behind the planned attack on ministers and MPs on the Dhanmondi Road 32 area last August.
CTTC officials said, after getting into militancy, Nabila was included in the secret communication app of new JMB, where she used "Bat Woman" as her username. Ever since then, new JMB members have called her "Bat Woman".
Nabila has confessed that at least 10-12 women used to work with her in the ‘sister’s wing’. CTTC officials are trying to unearth the names and addresses of these women by questioning Nabila.
An official from CTTC said that Nabila's husband Tanvir Yasin Karim was arrested on November 19 last year on suspicion of aiding Nabila in her militant activities.
However, upon interrogation, Tanvir has confessed that he was manipulated by Nabila to collect and supply funds for different organizational work.
Aside from militancy, Tanvir used to publish Islamic books, and owns several publishing houses.
Investigative officers of the August 15 militant attack, the case in which Nabila was arrested, have said that Nabila and her husband were both responsible for providing huge sums of money behind the attack.
However, since Nabila had a one-month baby when her husband was arrested, police did not detain her at that time. But they kept her under observation.
Finally, she was arrested from her parent's house in Siddheswari on April 4, where she had been staying ever since her husband was arrested.
Nabila's father Zakir Hossain is the owner of Motalib Plaza in Hatirpool. Nabila is the younger of two siblings. Her family members were unreachable when CTTC tried to contact them on Friday.
This article was first published on banglatribune.com
