A court in Sherpur on Wednesday sentenced a neo-JMB operative to 21 years in jail in an explosives case.
Convict Abul Kashem alias Abu Mossab has been slapped a fine of Tk 10,000, failing to pay which will result in another six months behind the bars.
A Senior District and Sessions Judge of the Special Tribunal-1 MA Noor delivered the verdict with the convict on the dock, said acting Public Prosecutor Arun Kumar Singha.
He said the neo-JMB was planning a terror-attack on Hindus in Sherpur’s Nakla Upazila during last year’s Durga Puja festival.
On Oct 5, 2017, police seized a huge amount of chemicals from a warehouse in Nakla. Investigators said the 600 litres of chemicals were capable of manufacturing a large-scale explosion.
Nakla police arrested Kashem arrested on Oct 22 from Tangail.
Police pressed charges against him in court in December the same year and he was indicted in March this year.
A splinter group of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the neo-JMB is blamed for the 2016 deadly Gulshan cafe attack.