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| The 41 grenades recovered at Shimulia of Satkhira are displayed at the Rapid Action Battalion headquarters in the capital yesterday. The two persons arrested in this connection are also seen along with Rab personnel. Photo: STAR |
The 41 grenades seized in Satkhira on Friday night are identical to those used in the August 21 blasts at an Awami League (AL) rally in 2004.
Like the ones detonated to cause August 21 carnage, these too are of Arges brand and were supplied by Moulana Tajuddin, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) officials said yesterday.
Tajuddin is brother of former deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, who is now detained in a case filed for the blasts that left 24 AL leaders and workers killed and scores injured.
"The grenades recovered from Satkhira are similar in every detail with those used in the August 21 attack," Director General (DG) of Rab Hassan Mahmood Khandkar told a press briefing at Rab headquarters in Uttara.
The elite crime busters made the seizure at Simulia village of Debhata upazila following up leads obtained from Huji leader Mufti Moin Uddin alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billah.
During the raid, they also picked up Nazrul Islam Ghorami, a suspected operative of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji).
"The arrests will provide important leads in investigation of August 21 grenade attacks," the Rab DG said.
Huji operations commander Mufti Hannan earlier told investigators that his close aide Moin Uddin alias Abu Jandal led the August 21 grenade attack, said a top Rab official requesting not to be named.
Hannan also said some of the grenades were still in Jandal's possession.
Additional Director General of Rab Col Gulzaruddin Ahmed said they arrested Abu Jandal, 29, at the guesthouse of Memberbari Jam-e Masjid at Banirchala of Joydevpur on February 14.
He said during interrogation, Jandal told Rab members that Nazrul Islam Ghorami might have some grenades hidden somewhere at Shimulia.
Rab officials said Nazrul told them that Jandal had handed him the grenades. He said he does not know anything beyond that, but interrogators believe he is keeping back information.
Gulzar said they had been on the hunt for Jandal for about a year and recently they spotted him at Dhaka Polytechnic Institute. He fled the institute during the clashes between Shibir and Chhatra League last week and took shelter at a madrasa at Faidabad in Uttara.
"From there, he moved to Joydevpur where we finally nabbed him," Col Gulzar told The Daily Star.
Asked whether the militants might go on the offensive, a Rab official said, "Possibility of that is little since the militants are on the run."
He said they would hardly get a chance to regroup as law enforcers and intelligence agencies are working relentlessly to capture them and army personnel fanned out across the country.
At the press conference, the Rab DG said they handed over the arrestees to Debhata Police Station yesterday.
He said Rab is assisting the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), tasked with probing the August 21 blasts, in all possible ways.
JANDAL Sources said Jandal had been a close associate of Mufti Hannan since 1998. When Hannan was expelled from Huji, he opted to side with him and became an influential member of the Hannan-led Huji. He had led Huji after Hannan's arrest in 2005.
While a student of Jame Ul Ulum Madrasa at Mirpur-14, he caught the attention of Huji leaders.
He quickly rose to the rank of a young leader for his organisation skills and capacity to motivate others, Rab sources said. He was assigned to preach jihad to new recruits.
Rab officials quoting Hannan's statements said the Huji boss and other leaders gave Jandal the responsibility to coordinate the August 21 attack.
He was the one who collected grenades for the attack from Mohammadpur house of Moulana Tajuddin.
NAZRUL Locals said Nazrul, who had to sell his land to run the family a few years back, moved to the capital in 2005 and soon made a fortune through means still unknown to his neighbours.
A few months ago, he and his family returned to their village home and bought two shoe shops in local markets.
Rab sources said he was mainly a smuggler. They however could not say whether he got involved with Huji.
Locals suspect he was involved in arms smuggling. He might have met Mufti Hannan when the militant kingpin visited Satkhira in 2002 or 2003 and since then he maintained a link with Huji.
Our Satkhira correspondent adds: Nazrul migrated to Bangladesh from India in 1952. He was arrested in 1973-74 for possession of illegal firearms.
Locals said he would often disappear from the area to return after 15/20 days.
His son Hafizur Rahman told journalists that their family was never involved in politics, but they always cast votes for Jamaat-e-Islami.
Meanwhile, police yesterday found Nazrul's house under lock and key.
