Explosives found in a Narayaganj building, used by suspected militants as a hideout, on Monday (Sept 23) are similar to those used in the recent attacks on police in Dhaka, says a top counter-terror official.
“A huge cache of explosives, including detonators have been seized from the hideout in Narayanganj’s Fatulla. The explosives found are similar to those used in the recent bombings on police at Dhaka’s Farmgate, Malibagh and Science Laboratory areas,” said Monirul Islam, the chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime unit.
Earlier in the day, counter-terror police surrounded a building owned by Joynal Abedin, an ex-central bank official, at the Upazila’s Shiachar.
Three suspects were arrested during the raid — Farid Uddin Rumee, 27, his wife Jannatul Foara Anu, 22, and his brother Jamal Uddin Rafique, 25.
Rumee and Rafique are Abedin’s sons.
Rumee is a teacher at the Ahsanullah Science and Technology University in Dhaka, his brother Rafique teaches at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology while Rumee’s wife Jannatul works for the state-owned Agrani Bank.
Speaking to the media at Fatulla after the raid, senior counterterror office Monirul Islam said Jamal was detained in Dhaka late on Sunday (Sept 22).
“The raid on the building owned by retired Bangladesh Bank deputy general manager Joynal Abedin was carried out by information gleaned from him,” he said before adding that the brothers were operatives of the Neo-JMB, an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
According to Islam, a laboratory was found inside the building. “This is quite different from the labs found in previously busted terror hideouts. A huge amount of explosives and detonators were found. The brothers have been using the facility for making bombs for quite some time now.”
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