Eight suspected JMB men held

Rapid Action Battalion yesterday claimed to have arrested eight members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), including a coordinator of the banned militant outfit, in different areas of Narayanganj and Comilla.

The arrestees belong to JMB's “Sarwar-Tamim group” and are trained bomb-makers, claimed Lt Col Kamrul Hasan, Rab-11 commanding officer, at a press briefing at his office at Adamji area of the district.

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The elite force arrested Jamal alias Rasel Siraji, 45, Nurul Absar, 27, Khandker Abu Naim alias Naim Jihadi, 49, Mohsin, 52, and Jabir Hawlader, 22, when they were having a secret meeting at Parijat Market at Signboard area on Thursday night.

Hours later, Rab arrested the three others -- Akterujjaman Maruf, 32, Mawlana Omor Faruk, 32, and Kashem Moonshi, 31, at Comilla's Gouripur -- based on information gleaned from the other five “JMB members”, the Rab official said.

The elite force also claimed to have recovered jihadi books, splinters, gunpowder and detonators from their possession.

Kamrul said Rasel Siraji had been coordinating the group over the last one and a half year. The group was planning “subversive acts”.

In primary interrogation, the arrestees admitted being JMB members, the Rab official claimed.

The arrestees also forged national identity (NID) cards to rent houses and shared their extremist views on Facebook, Kamrul added.