Where else would they look?
Banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh has approached a new strategy to regain its strength and is trying to develop ties with different groups including the outlawed parties.
| Because when you're one of the uncool kids, hanging out with those even less cool will make you cooler. |
Officials of Rapid Action Battalion fighting militancy say they have already marked and broke a link between JMB and outlawed Gono Bahini.
I'll bet the shutter gun got a real workout, too ...
"The JMB contacted an outlawed group for firearms but failed as we detected and dismantled the link," Rab Director (intelligence wing) Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan told The Daily Star.
Rab sources say JMB was left in ruins following the execution of its six top brass leaders in 2007 and constant arrest of other leaders and operatives. But now the outfit might try to establish a relation with other banned outfits like Harkatul Jihad al Islami, Hizb-ut Tahrir and even the war criminals to regain strength.
Birds of a feather ...
The sources add they have information that JMB Shura member Sohel Mahfuz, who hails from Charsreekal village in Kumarkhali upazila, Kushtia, sought firearms several times from top Gono Bahini leader Ashraful Islam alias Mandar about a month ago.
Mandar was eventually spotted and killed in a "shootout" with the Rab members in Kushtia on April 7.
RAB spotted him, grabbed him, cuffed him, put him in the back of a 2-1/2 ton truck, drove to the banana grove in Kushtia, put a round of bullet behind each ear, rolled him out the back of the truck, retrieved the cuffs, carefully planted the shutter gun, took pictures, retrieved said shutter gun, lit cigars, drove back home, wiped down shutter gun, put shutter gun in velvet case, finished cigars, returned shutter gun to Sergeant Chaudhray at the RAB lock-up, transmitted pics to RAB PR department, filed expenses, and went home to bed.
| Whew! It's a good thing they're fit, with such a schedule. |
Interestingly, JMB came to limelight for its so-called outlaw cleansing operation in 2003 under the banner Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) in different northwestern districts.
Several ministers of the then ruling four-party alliance government and party leaders patronised JMJB in the vigilante operations that left several people dead.
Meanwhile, Rab officials say JMB is still running its invitational activities in limited scale in all district and divisional headquarters despite being almost in a fragile state. Its invitation wing members are targeting students of schools, colleges and madrasas for recruitment. The JMB members are however a bit more active in the districts of Rajshahi, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Kishoreganj and Comilla, they observe.
Some recently held JMB operatives revealed these to the crime busting force during interrogation, Rab officials say.
Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan said, "Some arrested JMB operatives admitted that their operatives hiding in district towns as rickshaw-pullers or hotel boys continue 'dawati' activities in mosques in limited scale posing as Tabligh Jamaat men."
He added JMB members first target simpleton students from madrasas, schools and colleges in guise of Tabligh men. When they think their targets have become infatuated with Islam, the militants invite them to join JMB.
He however said JMB is running this activity very secretly and in a very limited scale as the outfit is under constant surveillance of Rab. The elite force, however, could not give the exact number of active JMB leaders and operatives.
Former military wing commander of JMB "Boma" Mizan during interrogation said the outfit has around 100 Eshar (in-charge of a certain area) members, 500 Gayeri Ehsar (active members) and around 1,000 general members and 2,000 supporters across the country. Mizan was arrested on May 14 last year.
The Rab has so far arrested 558 JMB members. Of them, 13 are Majlish-e-Shura members, 112 Ehsar members and the rest are Gayeri Ehsar or general members or supporters. |
(Rab) in Kushtia and Bagerhat early yesterday and Monday afternoon.