Arrest of five 'JMB men' in Joypurhat raises questions
Before any probe or verification, police hung papers inscribed with 'Active member of JMB' on the upper garments of five youths arrested 'on suspicion' at Tajpur village in Panchbibi upazila of Joypurhat district on July 13. The photo was taken at Panchbibi police station. Photo: STAR
The five youths from capital Dhaka, who were arrested at Tajpur village of Panchbibi upazila in Joypurhat district on July 13 on 'suspicion' of involvement with banned Islamist militant organisation Jama'atul Mujahideen of Bangladesh (JMB), will be produced before a chief judicial magistrate's court today. Claiming the five youths as innocent, their family sources said they had gone to Tajpur village on July 12 to visit the area. They stayed at the house of JMB activist Sirajul Islam, also a charge-sheeted accused, as his younger brothers Azizul and Emdadul Islam were known to them but Sirajul's involvement with JMB was not known to them, they said. The five arrestees are Golam Mahbub Shahriar Rial, 25, a freelance photographer and son of Abdur Rob of Narinda in Sutrapur, Tanveer Hossain Adnan, 28, a student and son of Afzal Hossain of the same area, Al Mamun Swapan, 27, a printing and packaging worker in the same area, Lutfor Rahman Apel, 29, owner of a CD/DVD shop and son of Salahuddin of Gendaria, and Md Riazuddin Riaz, 27, son of Mohiudddin of Ucchar Poddar Lane in the capital. Panchbibi police station Officer-in-Charge Biman Karmaker said a police team led by him raided the house of charge-sheeted JMB man Sirajul Islam and arrested the five youths when they were holding a meeting inside the house on July 13. Villagers, on the other hand, said police arrested the five youths from outside the house when they were going to Koria, a bordering village of the upazila, by an electric three-wheeler. After taking the five arrestees to Panchbibi police station, police supplied to media the arrestees' photos marked with 'Active JMB members' although there was no probe or verification in this regard. As the hapless youths repeatedly said that they do not have any link with banned Islamist outfit JMB or any militant organisations, police became angry and raised sticks to intimidate them into remaining silent, said a witnessed at the police station seeking anonymity. Police claimed that they recovered a laptop, CD, a camera and 10 bottles of phensidyl during the raid. "The CD that police seized was brought by me from Iraq," said Sirajul Islam's younger brother Emdadul Islam, who returned home from Iraq on July 5. "True JMB members never deny their involvement but these five youths were weeping and repeatedly denying their link with any militant organisation," seeking their anonymity, said a few policemen who have conducted quite a few operations to nab JMB members since the countrywide serial blasts on August 17 in 2005. On Tuesday, Joypurhat acting Superintendent of Police Mashrukur Rahman told the local reporters that although police arrested five people from a charge-sheeted JMB man's residence at Tajpur village of Panchbibi upazila their involvement with any militant organisation is yet to be certain. When contacted, SI Mominul Islam, investigation officer [IO] of the case filed against the five arrested youths, said they have started gathering information from the area where the arrestees reside. Everything will be cleared after receiving the enquiry report from Dhaka, said Panchbibi OC Biman Karmaker.
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