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JMB's explosive supplier caught in Rajshahi

Govt mum about the sensational arrest

JULFIKAR ALI MANIK
Law enforcers on Monday arrested a key explosive supplier of the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Rajshahi region, but the government is hiding the sensational arrest for mysterious reasons.
Although State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar on Monday claimed to have “good news” for the nation, saying the authorities are arresting the suppliers of explosives to the militants, he denied to give further details. “You
will come to learn about it when time comes,” Babar told reporters.
High officials of different law enforcement agencies are also abstaining from making any disclosure of their activities.
Different sources, meanwhile, confirmed that the person arrested in Rajshahi smuggled in the explosives used in all the JMB bomb attacks across the country.
A well-placed source said this supplier smuggled the foreign explosives exclusively for the JMB by road.
A team investigating into the rise
of militancy and the bomb attacks across the country arrested the person, brought him to Dhaka, and is now quizzing him at an undisclosed place, some sources confirmed but declined to give further details.
Following Babar's claim on Monday, rumours ran high that the arrested person is either JMB chief Abdur Rahman or his close associate Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, who is also the operations commander of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh.
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However, no law enforcement agencies officially acknowledged it to be true, brushing it aside as merely a rumour.
Taking a cue from Babar's claim, some officials said the minister referred to the arrest of JMB's regional commander Jewel in Gazipur with huge explosives the same day.
But sources confirmed The Daily Star that the minister indeed referred to the Rajshahi arrest.
The sources said the government might be intending to keep the matter undisclosed in a bid to quiz the arrestee first to gather information about the top JMB leaders and masterminds of the attacks and their whole network of explosive supply.
“He must know a lot of significant information and the investigators first want to conduct some operations accordingly before disclosing the details about his arrest and identity,” said a source.
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) also did not disclose the arrest of Mufti Abdul Hannan, commander of the Bangladesh chapter of Harkatul Jihad, in Maddhya Badda on October 1 morning, until 7:00pm.
Although a few high officials did not acknowledge any such arrest in Rajshahi, they said last night that they will inform the media “in due time”.