Missing man ‘arrested’ for Panthapath bombing: Dhaka Tribune, Nov 21, 2017

By Arifur Rahman Rabbi & Md Sanaul Islam Tipu
Police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit has arrested a man in connection with the suicide bomb attack that took place in a hotel opposite the Dhaka Tribune office in August.
Tanvir Yasin Karim, alias “Hitman” alias Jinn, 32, was detained in Azad Mosque area of Gulshan at around 9:30pm on Sunday, confirmed Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
He was picked up in a joint operation by a team of the CTTC, the Lawful Interception Cell (LIC), the Special Branch, and Bogra district police.
Tanvir – the owner of a publishing house in Dhaka – went missing on November 8, according to his family.
“We learnt that he had been arrested through a news scroll on television,” Zakir, one of Tanvir’s employees, told the Dhaka Tribune on Monday. “His family or employees had no idea about his alleged militant connections.”
CTTC Deputy Commissioner Mohibul Islam said Tanvir had confessed during primary interrogation to providing funds to Saiful Islam, the militant suicide attacker who blew himself up on the top floor of the Hotel Olio International in Panthapath during a police raid on August 15 this year.
He also said Tanvir confessed to planning the suicide attack Saiful was going to execute that day, and said he had an accomplice named Akram Hossain Khan Niloy.
“Tanvir collected funds from different donors and transferred the money to different New JMB operatives for their missions through Niloy,” Mohibul said.
Niloy, who is currently on the run, had met with Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, the mastermind of the July 2016 terror attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka who was killed during an anti-militant drive in Narayanganj last year.
Mohibul said police would continue interrogating Tanvir for more information on Niloy.
He was placed on a five-day remand for interrogation after investigators produced him before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmin yesterday afternoon.
“We will continue our efforts to arrest Niloy,” Mohibul added.
Saiful Islam, 21, from Dumuria, Khulna, reportedly blew himself up when a team of CTTC conducted Operation August Bite at Hotel Olio International in Panthapath, close to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s residence in Dhanmondi Road 32.
The CTTC had moved to prevent a possible suicide bomb attack on a procession observing National Mourning Day on August 15, the day Bangabandhu and most of his family were brutally assassinated.
Investigation of the incident began after a case was filed with Kalabagan police station on August 16.http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/crime/2017/11/20/cttc-panthapath-attack-financier/