Well this is going to upset some of the resident jihadi terrorists
'Neo JMB' den busted in Ctg
29 grenades, big cache of bomb-making materials seized at rented house; weapons stashed there for subversive activities
A bomb disposal expert of Chittagong Metropolitan Police prepares to destroy a bomb. Photo: Collected
Star Report
Police yesterday seized a huge cache of grenades and explosive materials from the Chittagong house of two militant suspects arrested over Tuesday's attack on a police checkpoint in Comilla.
On information gleaned from the two -- Mahmud Hasan, 24, and Jasim, 19 -- law enforcers raided the house on the ground floor of a two-story building at Mirsharai around 11:00pm on Tuesday.
The raid continued overnight and ended around 4:30pm yesterday, police said.
The seized items are 29 grenades, huge bomb-making materials, including 280 packets of metal balls (each packet contains 100 balls) and 40 packets of explosive gel, and nine machetes. Five black panjabis and a banner inscribed with the word “Allahu” in Arabic were also found.
The grenades were locally made with high explosives, Nur-e-Alam Mina, superintendent of Chittagong police, told The Daily Star.
The arrested are members of militant outfit “Neo JMB,” said Mohibul Islam, deputy commissioner of DMP's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit.
“The arrestees are mid-ranking leaders of Neo JMB. They collected the explosives and bomb-making materials for large-scale subversive activities,” said another CTTC official who participated in the drive.
A key leader of the outfit Maynul Islam Musa, who escaped arrest during a drive at a Ashkona hideout on December 24 last year in the capital, used to visit the house, the official said, asking not to be named.
Police raided a house in Chittagong yesterday and seized 29 grenades and bomb-making materials. They ran the operation after getting information from two arrested suspected militants who attacked a police checkpoint in Comilla on Tuesday. Photo: Collected
The recovery comes amid law enforcers' claims that the group is on back foot following some preemptive drives in which some of its top leaders were killed or arrested. Those killed include Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury, said to the the chief coordinator of the group.
Briefing journalists around 1:30pm, the SP said Mahmud Hasan rented two flats at the building on February 1, introducing himself as a clothes trader at Jorarganj on Chittagong-Dhaka Highway.
Once inside, law enforcers found no furniture in either of the flats.
The grenades were defused by the bomb disposal unit of Chittagong Metropolitan Police. Later both the flats were sealed, the SP added.
The arrestees gave misleading information about their identity and addresses. Hasan told police that he was from Patiya upazila in Chittagong, but police found it to be false, he said.
Building owner Md Redwan, 45, said that while renting the flats Hasan said he and his brother will live in one flat while his sister, her husband and their four-year-old child in the other.
Redwan, also former joint secretary general of Mirsharai municipal BNP, said he sometimes saw Hasan's “sister” and her “husband”.
“But they remained inside the house most of the time … I often talked to Hasan…he told me he is from Lohagara upazila in Chittagong.”
During one conversation, Hasan told Redwan that he would bring his wife to the flat in March.
On February 27, Hasan's sister, her husband and their kid left the flat, said Redwan, adding, “The last time I spoke with him was on Monday when I gave him the electricity bill.”
Then around Tuesday midnight, police knocked on his door and asked him to open open the two flats Hasan rented. At the time, police closed the doors of the five other flats from outside and opened those in the morning, said Redwan and a tenant.
Around 11:30am on Tuesday, police came under a crude bomb attack when they stopped a bus at Kutumbopur checkpoint. The bomb did not explode and no one was hurt.
Law enforcers then opened fire, injuring one. He was identified as Jasim.
Locals caught Hasan and beat him up when he was trying to flee.
A backpack, containing several handmade bombs, was seized from Hasan's possession.
The two were later detained.
'Neo JMB' den busted in Ctg
29 grenades, big cache of bomb-making materials seized at rented house; weapons stashed there for subversive activities
A bomb disposal expert of Chittagong Metropolitan Police prepares to destroy a bomb. Photo: Collected
Star Report
Police yesterday seized a huge cache of grenades and explosive materials from the Chittagong house of two militant suspects arrested over Tuesday's attack on a police checkpoint in Comilla.
On information gleaned from the two -- Mahmud Hasan, 24, and Jasim, 19 -- law enforcers raided the house on the ground floor of a two-story building at Mirsharai around 11:00pm on Tuesday.
The raid continued overnight and ended around 4:30pm yesterday, police said.
The seized items are 29 grenades, huge bomb-making materials, including 280 packets of metal balls (each packet contains 100 balls) and 40 packets of explosive gel, and nine machetes. Five black panjabis and a banner inscribed with the word “Allahu” in Arabic were also found.
The grenades were locally made with high explosives, Nur-e-Alam Mina, superintendent of Chittagong police, told The Daily Star.
The arrested are members of militant outfit “Neo JMB,” said Mohibul Islam, deputy commissioner of DMP's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit.
“The arrestees are mid-ranking leaders of Neo JMB. They collected the explosives and bomb-making materials for large-scale subversive activities,” said another CTTC official who participated in the drive.
A key leader of the outfit Maynul Islam Musa, who escaped arrest during a drive at a Ashkona hideout on December 24 last year in the capital, used to visit the house, the official said, asking not to be named.
Police raided a house in Chittagong yesterday and seized 29 grenades and bomb-making materials. They ran the operation after getting information from two arrested suspected militants who attacked a police checkpoint in Comilla on Tuesday. Photo: Collected
The recovery comes amid law enforcers' claims that the group is on back foot following some preemptive drives in which some of its top leaders were killed or arrested. Those killed include Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury, said to the the chief coordinator of the group.
Briefing journalists around 1:30pm, the SP said Mahmud Hasan rented two flats at the building on February 1, introducing himself as a clothes trader at Jorarganj on Chittagong-Dhaka Highway.
Once inside, law enforcers found no furniture in either of the flats.
The grenades were defused by the bomb disposal unit of Chittagong Metropolitan Police. Later both the flats were sealed, the SP added.
The arrestees gave misleading information about their identity and addresses. Hasan told police that he was from Patiya upazila in Chittagong, but police found it to be false, he said.
Building owner Md Redwan, 45, said that while renting the flats Hasan said he and his brother will live in one flat while his sister, her husband and their four-year-old child in the other.
Redwan, also former joint secretary general of Mirsharai municipal BNP, said he sometimes saw Hasan's “sister” and her “husband”.
“But they remained inside the house most of the time … I often talked to Hasan…he told me he is from Lohagara upazila in Chittagong.”
During one conversation, Hasan told Redwan that he would bring his wife to the flat in March.
On February 27, Hasan's sister, her husband and their kid left the flat, said Redwan, adding, “The last time I spoke with him was on Monday when I gave him the electricity bill.”
Then around Tuesday midnight, police knocked on his door and asked him to open open the two flats Hasan rented. At the time, police closed the doors of the five other flats from outside and opened those in the morning, said Redwan and a tenant.
Around 11:30am on Tuesday, police came under a crude bomb attack when they stopped a bus at Kutumbopur checkpoint. The bomb did not explode and no one was hurt.
Law enforcers then opened fire, injuring one. He was identified as Jasim.
Locals caught Hasan and beat him up when he was trying to flee.
A backpack, containing several handmade bombs, was seized from Hasan's possession.
The two were later detained.
