Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Tuesday night arrested six militants and two traders in connection with the recent incident of snatching three convicted militants of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from a prison van in Trishal in Mymensingh.
RAB Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman at a press briefing at the RAB headquarters at Uttara in the capital city on Wednesday afternoon said that the RAB detained the suspects from several parts of the country in several drives.
The arrested six militants are: Kamal Hossain alias Sabuj, 34, Md Sohel Rana, 28, Murshed Alam, 22, Anwar Hossain, 40, Md Basir Uddin, 20, and Yusuf Ali Sohag, 20 while the two traders are Md Ilias Uddin, 34, and Abu Bakar Siddique alias Swapan, 27. Ilias Uddin and Swapan are travel agency traders. Swapan, also teacher of coaching centre, and Ilias Uddin were arrested, as they were allegedly trying to send some accused of the incident abroad, said ATM Habibur Rahman.
Kamal Hossain Sabuj and Abu Bakar Siddique Swapan are the teachers of a coaching centre- ‘Jonojagoron Tutorial Coaching Centre’ in Bhaluka of Mymensingh. They were abducted by unidentified miscreants on Monday. Sabuj and Swapan are also cousins.
Sabuj said before the media that they joined the operation under the direction of a leader of Juba League, the youth body of the ruling Awami League. Joint secretary of Bhaluka Thana unit of Juba League Ataur Rahman Kamal alias Juboraz had designed the snatching plan and several groups were involved with the incident according to his design, he added. He claimed that he was chief of one of the groups and his group was assigned to release death convicted Rakib with a contract Tk. 20, 000 for each person of his group.
ATM Habibur Rahman said Sabuj was owner of a coaching centre in Trishal. Six active members of the group with three motorbikes joined the operation under his leadership and all the six members have already been arrested, he said.
Earlier, Detective Branch of police detained 11 people from the city and different other places of the country on different dates in the connection with freeing of the JMB men.
On February 23 this year, an armed gang ambushed a prison van in filmy style and snatched away the three convicted JMB militants from Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Amirabad Signboard area in Trishal upazila. A police constable was killed in the incident.
The snatched convicts are Rakib Hasan Russell alias Hafez Mahmud, Salauddin Ahmed alias Salehin and Zahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan. Rakib and Salauddin were sentenced to death and Boma Mizan to 37 years in prison in different cases. Rakib was arrested later and died in a gun-fighting.
