The Raid Action Battalion on Friday said that it unearthed a militant organisation BEM and arrested three of its suicide squad suspect along with firearms and ammunitions in Bogra district town.
Although the elaborate name of BEM was yet to be known, the organisation was following the operation style of the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and was plotting subversive activities in the country, the battalion officials said at a briefing at its office in Bogra.
The battalion’s legal and media wing director ATM Habibur Rahman said that a battalion team raided a tin roofed house at Thanthania Paschim Para in Bogra town at around 4:30pm on Thursday and arrested the militant organisation’s suicide squad members Nahid Hossain, 20, of Kamlapur in Dhaka, Babu Sheikh, 21, of Govindaganj in Gaibandha and Firoj Alam, 35, of Dinajpur.
He said that the elite force seized a light machine gun, a
sub-machine gun, an AK-22 rifle, a pistol, a drum full of ammunitions, three magazines, 80 bullets and some knives from their possession.
The battalion also seized four sacks of books including personal diaries and books on militancy and using of different types of firearms, Habibur added.
He said that an entry in the diary addressing parents reads, ‘We are going to embrace martyrdom. If I am martyred, be proud thinking that you are the parents of a martyr.’
The battalion’s company commander Miran Hossain, who led the raid, told New Age that when the battalion team reached there, they overheard the BEM men planning an attack.
As the battalion members approached, the militancy suspects locked in scuffle with them and bit them leaving four battalion members injured, Miran said.
Injured deputy additional director Abdul Alim, assistant sub-inspector Bijit Kumar and corporals Motiur Rahman and Jiban were given treatment, he added.
Although the battalion arrested the three, some 15 others managed to flee breaking open a window of the house, said Miran.
He said that they came to know that BEM had other wings including detectives and training.
The battalion said that about 15 to 18 militancy suspects rented the house a few days back in the name of opening a coaching centre.
They had been organising a new militant organisation like Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh for long after the execution of the JMB leaders, said Habibur.
He said that the arrested three were the members of military wing of BEM. They were getting training to launch attacks in different parts of the country.
The battalion also seized a plan sheet of training, he said, adding that they were taking arms training since early morning to midnight in their camps.
The battalion handed over the three to Bogra sadar police station.
Three cases were filed against 18 men including the trio. The police on Friday produced the three before a court seeking them to be remanded in custody for 15 days for interrogation. The court posted hearing for Tuesday.
-With New Age input
