Staff Reporter :
Four alleged members of new faction of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB) surrendered to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) during the 14-hour raid at Chowrabari village of Ashulia, on the outskirts of capital on Sunday afternoon.
The yielded men are Mozammel Huq, Rashedul Nabi, Ifran Alam and Alamgir Hossain. They are aides of “Neo JMB” militant suspect Tamim Dari.
Militants fired gunshots from inside the den when the RAB members asked them to surrender.
RAB announced the closure of operation after the Bomb Disposal Unit defused three bombs inside the house around 3:30pm.
Mufti Mahmud Khan, Director of Legal and Media Wing of the RAB, said these in a press briefing in front of the den on Sunday afternoon.
“One of them first came out of the one-storey tin-shed house around 12:30am in response to a call from the elite force. Later, three others followed him. The house is owned by one Ibrahim Hossain, the RAB spokesman said.
In a primary interrogation law enforcers came to know about their link with “Neo-JMB”, the RAB official said.
Tamim Dari, 32, a former Engineer of Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, was arrested along with two other suspected militants in a bus on the Jhitka-Gabtoli route at Savar on April 28 this year, the RAB spokesman said.
The RAB official claimed that the arrested men are members of Sarowar-Tamim group of JMB.
According to RAB, Sarwar Jahan alias Abdur Rahman alias Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif was the chief of the Neo-JMB while Gulshan attack mastermind Tamim was the second-in-command of the group.
RAB-4 Commanding Officer Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Lutful Kabir said, “We have cordoned off the house at Chowrabari village under Ashulia Police Station of Savar upazila around 1:00am.”
“The owner of the house informed the elite force about his tenants’ suspicious activities a month ago when they rented house. The RAB also conducted the raid in the area After verifying necessary information about their link to militancy,” the RAB official said.
The RAB members tracked the four suspected militants, who surrendered in Ashulia yesterday, said the CO of the RAB-4. We have asked them to surrender, but some male voices replied with slang words, he said.
One of the militants rented a portion of the single-storey tin-shed house for a monthly Tk 2,500 identifying himself as a garments employee, he said quoting the owner of the house. The owner of the house has been taken to the RAB Headquarters for interrogation, the RAB official said.
“A man named Azad rented the house two months ago. He identified himself as a RMG worker,” said Ibrahim Hossain, the owner of the house.
“I informed the RAB about their suspected activities to avoid nefarious situation,” he said.
Sohan, a student of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), said: “By looking at them I thought them to be thread spinners. They hardly talked with anyone.”
The people living in the house portrayed themselves as a family, but he is not sure if that was the actual case, he said.
Locals Alauddin and Monir Hossain said, five to six persons, including a woman, stayed in the house and they rarely came out it.
