by Senior Correspondent in bdnews24.com, May 5, 2017
A man, pseudo-named ‘Ayub Bachchu’, is trying to reorganise the revived faction of the Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Neo-JMB amid crackdowns on terror groups throughout Bangladesh, police say.
Police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit chief Monirul Islam told a press conference on Sunday that ‘Bachchu’ took over as Neo-JMB chief after their leader Moinul Islam Musa was believed to be killed in a raid in Sylhet.
Monirul said ‘Ayub Bachchu’ is the new Neo-JMB chief’s ‘organisational name’. “We’ve got a photo of him. We are trying to know his real name and identity. Police are searching for him.”
Monirul, an additional commissioner, said the information on Bachchu was obtained from three suspected members of the banned militant group who were arrested on Saturday night.
They are Monir Hossain, 32, Md Touhidul Islam, 35, and Kamal Hossain, 35.
Monir and Touhidul were picked up from Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka while Kamal was nabbed in Lakshmipur.
CTTC chief Monirul said police confiscated seven grenades, three suicide belts and a huge cache of bomb-making materials during anti-terror raids on a house in Savar’s Genda and another in the same neighbourhood on May 27 and 28.
The new Neo-JMB chief, Bachchu, lived in one of the houses, according to Monirul.
Monir and Touhidul were his accomplices, said the CTTC chief and added that Bachchu managed to flee before the drive after getting information from the duo.
A CTTC official told bdnews24.com that Bachchu passed HSC from a renowned college in Dhaka and got admitted to a university but did not complete his graduation. He got involved in militancy two years ago, the official said.
According to police, the revived JMB’ faction was responsible for the killings of 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two police officers in the terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on July 1 last year.
They said the JMB regrouped under the leadership of a Bangladeshi expatriate to Canada, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, who had returned to Dhaka in 2013.
After Tamim was killed in a raid in Narayanganj in August last year, the names of Tanvir Qaderi and Sarwar Jahan surfaced as coordinators of the group.
Musa from Rajshahi’s Bagmara took charge of the organisation after Sarwar was killed in a police operation. Police believe Musa was killed in the raid on a house in Sylhet in March.http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2017/06/05/new-militant-leader-operating-under-alias-ayub-bachchu-fled-before-savar-raid-police-say
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