The Rapid Action Battalion in separate drives arrested four leaders and activists of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and seized ammunitions and explosives on Sunday evening and early Monday. The arrestees are the outfit’s nayeb-e-ameer for Jessore and Khulna districts Khalilur Rahman, and its finance secretary Sharifuzzaman and members Maksudur Rahman and Md Abdul Quader.
Khalilur Rahman is a suspect in the August 17, 2005 countrywide series bomb explosions and he is facing 17 cases, said battalion officials.
The battalion disclosed the matter at briefing at its headquarters on Monday.
The battalion media wing director, ATM Habibur Rahman, said that acting on a tip-off, a battalion team conducted a drive in Abdullahpur bus stop area at about 6:00pm Sunday and arrested Sharifuzzaman and Maksudur Rahman.
With their information, the battalion conducted another drive in Ashulia bridge area and arrested the rest two on a Dhaka-bound bus, which left from Tangail.
The battalion also seized 1,135 bullets of sub-machine gun, a pistol, 32 bullets of pistol, three kilogram of explosive gel, five detonators, 110 feet wire used for blasting, eight crude bombs and a blasting machine, claimed the battalion official.
The battalion said that with these ammunitions and explosives, any subversion could be occurred in the capital.
Habibur said, ‘During preliminary interrogation, we got information that the organisation’s detained leader Abdur Rauf was directing them from inside Kashimpur jail through various medium. With his guideline, Khalilur Rahman was coordinating the revival of the militant outfit under the banner of Tamirud-Din.
He said that the militant outfit was planning to create an atmosphere of terror and mayhem in the capital and elsewhere after Eid-ul-Azha.
The battalion official also claimed that one of the prime aims of the militant outfit was to foil the ongoing war crimes trial.
Earlier on August 15, Jhalakati police arrested nine HuJI men at Khademul Islam Qoumi Madrassah mosque at Uttar Kamdevpur in Nalcity upazila.
-With New Age input
