Is the commercial hub Narayanganj a safe haven for militants? The militant activities are continuing in the guise of different professions. Sometimes they are masqueraded as computer instructors, at times as the imam of various mosques and even as vegetable vendors. Salahuddin alias Salehin, the current chief of the terrorist group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is a resident of Narayanganj.
Salahuddin is reported to have carried an ambush on a running van in 2014 at Mymansingh's Trishal in the likes of a thriller movie. So far, he is at large and beyond the reaches of the law enforcement agencies.
The JMB leader also gave an interview in the YouTube in disguise as Sahm Al Hind on July 13. In the interview he said that JMB is reorganising with three main objectives: Dawah or motivation, training and Kital or armed combat. This implies that JMB is trying to recruit new members.
According to Indian media reports, Sajid, alias Sheikh Rahmatullah, is a member of JMB and is a member of Majlis-e-Sura which is the central committee of Jamaat. Rahmatullah is also one of the main leaders of JMB in West Bengal. Sajid is reported to be the chief Commander of Bangladesh (JMB) terror group. West Bengal police arrested the mastermind of Burdwan blast Sk Rahmatulla alias Sajid, on November 9, 2014.
The arrested Rahmatullah, stayed near Lalgola Madrasa (religious school) in Mukimnagar of India's Murshidabad district and Sajid is resident of Narayanganj ( Bondor upazila) port area.
Three militants including Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, the alleged mastermind of Gulshan café attack, were killed during a joint forces' raid at a house at Narayanganj's Paikpara area on 27 august 2016.
The late Tamim Ahmed is believed to have turned the port town of Narayanganj into a safe haven for militants, police source said.
The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB has detained three persons at Baktabali, in Narayanganj on the suspicion of being involved in militant activities on July 29. The RAB claimed the three belonged to the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB.
They have been identified as Md Waliullah Chishti alias Jony alias Mohammad alias Abu Umar, 27, Md Kamrul Hassan alias Hridoy, 35, Md Al Amin Sheikh alias Rajib alias Rajib Islah Sheikh alias Sheikh, 25. They are suspected for being operatives of the JMB's 'Sarwar-Tamim faction'.
"Twenty to twenty-five members of the faction had met secretly to plan operations, led by a senior leader," said RAB 11 chief Quamrul Hasan.
Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested seven suspected operatives of the banned outfit Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (Huji) and unearthed its two laboratories for producing high powered bombs from Naraynganj's Tikatuli and Fatullah on 25 Oct, 2014.
Fifty-five kinds of explosives including chemical, detonator, boaster, metallic bomb container, switch, pipette, funnel, equipment for producing bombs and a Pakistani made sub-machine gun have been seized from their possessions.
They have been planning to carry out synchronized attacks on very important persons (VIPs), key point installations and crowded places in Dhaka, Chittagong and Rajshahi while trying to form a common platform in the name of Bangladesh Zihadi Group.
Labs were doscovered at Tukituki and Fatullah in Narayanganj, where the militants were conducting research on how to produce powerful bombs. Furthermore, some 300 detonators were recovered beside other seized chemicals and equipment. The militants have plans to carry out a big-scale terror strike including small attacks .
Alaf Uddin ASP of RAB -11 told The Daily Observer, that the militants are using Narayanganj as a safe haven for conducting militant activities. The trio arrested from Baktabali, was involved in recruiting new members, collecting funds for the group and circulating radical materials and videos using secret apps.
