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Bangladesh

3 'LeT men' captured

2010-10-05

[Bangla Daily Star] The Detective Branch (DB) of police yesterday claimed to have jugged Pakistain-based Islamic exemplar group Lashker-e-Taiba's coordinator in Bangladesh and two of his Pak associates. The arrestees are LeT's Bangladesh coordinator Khurram alias Mohammad Salem, 42, and his associates Abdul Malek, 31, and Imran, 31. All the three Pak nationals were jugged at a hotel in the capital on Saturday. Acting on a tip off, DB police raided the hotel and jugged the three with 160 cartons of foreign cigarettes and 153 bottles of exotic perfume, said Deputy Commissioner (DC) Monirul Islam of DB during a press briefing at his office. The DC said Khurram's name emerged as the coordinator of India and Bangladesh chapters when Indian nationals Mufti Obaidullah and Maulana Emadullah and Pak national Sufian Ajhari were jugged here and interrogated for their involvement with LeT. DB officials claimed that Khurram had also been serving the banned Islamic exemplar outfits Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-islami (Huji). In the face of frequent arrests in Bangladesh, the LeT operatives have adopted the method of using several names and passports for each individual, said the DC adding, that the LeT men also use Bangladeshi passports. He said although Khurram has Bangladeshi passport, he used his Pak one this time. According to his seized passport, Khurram visited the country 11 times this year so far. Asked, the DC said the immigration cannot identify a person who use different names and passports. He said the LeT operatives use the country as a transit for counterfeit money business although they could not establish an LeT unit in the country. However, The infamous However... their effort to recruit operatives from here is on, added the DC. DC Monirul Islam said that so far they have jugged three Pak and three Indian LeT adherents and their several Bangladeshi aides.

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Bangladesh

15 militant outfits active

2010-03-30

[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 foreign militant organisations were active or are still operating in Bangladesh since 1991 using the country as a safe shelter or transit to infiltrate neighbouring countries. The organisations are Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami-Kashmiri (TJI), Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehadul Islami, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), Hezbe Islami, Jamiatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Ansar, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), Myanmar-based militant groups Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and National United Party of Arakan (NUPA). This was revealed from the statements of several detained foreign and local militants and insiders of different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies dealing with militancy. Operatives of different foreign militant groups started visiting Bangladesh and spreading their tentacles with the help of banned local militant group Huji after the end of the Afghan war against Russian forces. The militant organisations operated almost undisturbed from 1991 to 1998 and then between 2001 and 2005 under the nose of the local administration. "During the BNP-Jamaat rule activities of the foreign militants marked a serious rise under the nose of the administration. Some of them were held and later given a safe passage," says a law enforcer requesting anonymity. Operatives of several groups used to visit Bangladesh from Pakistan and then India to commit their activities, while many from India also sneaked into Bangladesh and then visited Pakistan with fake Bangladeshi passports to The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say. have training on arms and explosives. Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Hassan Mahmood Khandkar said, "Now Bangladesh is no more a comfortable place for local or foreign militants as we constantly remain vigilant and go after militants upon instructions of the government." The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say. Now some militant groups are generating funds for them by selling counterfeit Indian currencies in India. The counterfeit currencies, especially Indian rupees and US dollars, are mainly forged in Pakistan and carried to Bangladesh via Dubai. Then a strong syndicate of militants and criminals supply the fake currencies to India. "We've detected at least three such gangs having around 50 members. One of the gangs is led by Bangladeshi citizen Majumder, one by Pakistani citizen Sarfaraz and the other by another Pakistani named Mohammad Danish," says a top police official asking not to be identified. Recently, an international money transfer has been detected through which some fund came from Pakistan to detained Pakistani national Rezwan. Law enforcers could not give a clear idea about how many foreign militant groups are active in Bangladesh. But recent arrests of over a dozen foreign militants belonging to LeT, JeM, HuM and ARCF suggest they are still active here, they say. One of the Huji founders, Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who is behind bars in connection with the August 21 carnage case, named during interrogation nine Pakistan-based militant organisations which mainly work in Kashmir but also had operated in Bangladesh. The names of ARCF and LeT surfaced after the arrest of its leaders Indian citizens Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Monsur Ali in May last year. The ARCF used to work for LeT. The recent arrest of Pakistani national Rezwan Ahmed who admitted at a press briefing of coordinating JeM activities in Bangladesh suggests the outfit is still active here. The name of another Pakistan-based militant outfit Tehrik-ul Mujahideen came to notice from the confessional statement of executed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman. Rahman had visited Pakistan more than once and met Tehrik-ul Mujahideen leader Jamilur Rahman, who gave JMB 60,000 rupees and another Rs 1 lakh to Tahrikul-ul-Mujahideen's Bangladesh chapter leader Abdur Razzak of Natore. Salam also said Harkatul Mujahideen top leader and Pakistani nation Moulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil had also visited Bangladesh. Sources say Khalil made the visit in 1997 and met local militants at an NGO office in Mohammadpur in the capital. Sources in the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies say they have information about activities of RSO, ARNO and NUPA in the hill areas of Bandarban and Cox's Bazar. Moulana Salam also substantiated the claim as he in his statement said those groups still have some training camps in Naikhangchhari in Bandarban. Activities of HuM were detected a few months ago when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) learned one year after the arrest of Abdul Majid alias Abu Yusuf Butt that he is from India-administered Kashmir. Moulana Salam said Moulana Tajuddin told him that Majid brought a consignment of grenades used in the August 21, 2004 attack from Chittagong. Analyses of interrogation statements of Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Monsur Ali, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, Moulana Abdus Salam and Anisul Mursalin, now detained in India, Indian militants Faisal Nayeem alias Khurram alias Abdullah, Amir Raza, Mufti Obaidullah, Monsur Ali, Golam Yazdani alias Yahia, Mozammel and several others suggest that they had close relation with detained Huji linchpins Mufti Abdul Hannan, Abu Sayeed alias Dr Zafar and Moulana Abdur Rouf. Rouf, who was initially involved with Huji but later formed another militant group Tanjim-e Tamiruddin, visited an LeT safe shelter cum training camp in Habiganj in 2002. Khurram and Amir Raza had often visited Bangladesh but left the country in 2006.

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Bangladesh

Cops on trail of 20 more Lashkar men

2009-11-15

[Bangla Daily Star] At least 20 more Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives of Indian and Pakistani nationalities are in Bangladesh to build a strong militant network here. Officials investigating the reported LeT plot to attack the Indian and US embassies in Dhaka have also gathered that the Pakistan-based militant group is recruiting cadres from Rohingya refugees in Chittagong. An investigator requesting anonymity to speak more freely about the ongoing probe shared the information with The Daily Star yesterday. He said of the 20 LeT operatives, some hail from Kerala and Kashmir of India and some from Pakistan. Most of them work as textile technicians here. Detectives have also learned they receive financial backing from some contraband medicine traders in the capital's Paltan and Mitford hospital areas. DB sources said the detained LeT men told interrogators that a Pakistani national posing as a stranded Bihari is involved in Lashkar operations here. He runs a medicine store on Topkhana Road in Paltan and makes regular contributions to the militant campaign. Mahbubur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of police, said they have names of some medicine traders suspected to have been providing financial assistance to the LeT men. He however would not divulge the names for the sake of investigation. Mahbubur said they have teamed up with other law enforcement agencies to hunt down the still-at-large LeT operatives. They have also taken measures so none of the militants could slip out of the country. Meanwhile, a DB team has seized a laptop, electrical circuits and several cellphone sets from the houses of detained LeT operatives Mohammad Ashraf Alia Zahid and Mohammad Monwar Ali. The seizure was made following up information gleaned from the two arrested with another on Friday. The three, all Pakistan nationals, were picked up from Tongi and the city's Uttara for suspected links to LeT. Zahid and Monwar travelled between Bangladesh and Pakistan several times in last two years. They used to present themselves as tourists. During their stay, they would often seek to have their visas extended. On failure to do so, they would get back to their country. DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam told The Daily Star that they are interrogating the detained LeT men to know whether they have suicide-squad members in Bangladesh. Sources said the interrogators are quizzing the detainees along that line in view of the reported LeT plans to attack American and Indian embassies. They said LeT has a history of employing suicide bombers for assaults on highly protective establishments in different countries. Despite extensive interrogation over the last few days, DB officials have yet to know how many local youths LeT has recruited so far. Zahid and Monwar have diploma in engineering, and are experts in producing electrical circuits, interrogators said. The three detained Pakistanis linked to Lashkar were on a two-day remand each in DB custody. A few months back, DB police arrested three LeT leaders of Indian descent--Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Mansur and Emdadullah alias Mahbub--in the city.

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Bangladesh

CID to quiz 2 Lashkar leaders

2009-10-06

[Bangla Daily Star] Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took two members of Lashkar-e-Taiba of India on a three-day remand in connection with the blast at a rally of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) in 2001. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Rabbani yesterday passed the remand order after CID produced Mufti Obaidullah and Mansur Ali before the court seeking ten days' remand. Earlier, they were shown arrested in the case as the CID found their involvement in the incident. In the forwarding report, CID Inspector Mrinal Kanti Saha, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, said he gathered information from Harkatul Jihad (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan that the two militants were directly involved with the incident. So, they need to be remanded to find out vital clues about the blast, the IO said. Defending himself Mufti Obaidullah told the court that he along with his family members left his motherland India nine years back due to torture by Hindus. He was not involved with militant activities. Moreover, he is a teacher of a Quami Madrasah. So, he prayed for cancelling his remand. On the other hand, Mansur Ali did not say anything about the remand prayer sought by the IO of the case. Mufti Hannan, BNP leader Ariful Islam, also a ward councillor of Dhaka City Corporation and several other Huji members were shown arrested in the case and taken on remand to identify those responsible for the offences. On January 21, 2001, five people were killed and 50 others injured in the bomb blasts at a rally of CPB. Following the attack, CPB President Monjurul Ahsan Khan filed a bomb blast case with Motijheel Police Station, saying a group of anti-state conspirators made the attack. The police arrested 12 people at that time, but the CID submitted the final report on December 17, 2003, as correct, impartial and reliable pieces of evidence were not found to prove the charges against the arrestees. In the report, the IO said he would press charges if sufficient evidence was found against the arrestees. The IO submitted a petition with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court for reinvestigation into the case on January 27, 2005 and the court directed him for fresh probe into the case after two days.

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Bangladesh

Lashkar linked to grenade attacks

2009-10-04

[Bangla Daily Star] Investigators will show detained top Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders Mufti Obaidullah and Monsur Ali arrested in a number of deadly grenade and bomb attack cases soon as the two disclosed significant information about such attacks. "We already initiated a move to show them arrested in the CPB rally [at Paltan on January 20, 2001] blast cases and having them in remand in those cases today. We suspect they might have been involved in the attack," said a top official in the Criminal Investigation Department. The official said they are also thinking about having them in remand in a case filed in connection with the grenade attack on Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 that killed 23 AL leaders and workers. According to information gleaned from the two top Indian militants during interrogation, they had secret meetings at Harkatul Jihad Al Islami leader Mufti Hannan's residence before his arrest in 2005 and had maintained close contacts with Huji leaders who are accused in those cases. "In those meetings they had elaborate discussions on almost all deadly grenade and bomb attacks," reads the summery of the statements prepared by a law enforcement agency based on interrogations of the two militants. The attacks include planting of a bomb at Kotalipara to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, attack on Udichi function in Jessore, attack on CPB rally at Paltan, Ramna Batamul attack and the attack on former British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet. Obaidullah has also disclosed that Mufti Hannan used to smuggle in grenades and other explosives from India and Indian national Abdul Baki aided him from India. During interrogation by detectives and Task Force for Interrogation (TFI), Obaidullah admitted that he had close relations with the accused in August 21, 2004 grenade attack case including Huji leaders Mufti Abdur Rouf, Maulana Abu Taher, twin brothers Morsalin and Mottakin, Abdul Hye, Abu Zihad, Abu Tareq and Maulana Yahia. Detained Huji leaders Mufti Hannan, Maulana Abu Sayeed and Mufti Abdur Rouf are already charge sheeted accused in a number of deadly grenade attack cases including August 21, 2004 and Ramna Batamul, 2001. The two militants also said during interrogation that Mufti Hannan led the attack on the AL rally on August 21 and the grenade attack on the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury on May 21 in 2004. Obaidullah said he first visited Bangladesh in 1989 to attend the Biswa Ijtema and visited different Qawmi Madrasas in Chittagong where Huji had a stronghold and even training camps. He also admitted that Mufti Hannan assisted him in getting a fake Bangladesh passport for a Pakistan national and Lashkar-e-Taiba organiser in Bangladesh Khurram alias Khyyam alias Abdullah. Both the Indian militant leaders, who sneaked into Bangladesh in 1995 and had been staying in Bangladesh in the guise of Bangladesh citizens, also admitted that top Huji leaders had visited their safe house in Habiganj several times.

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Bangladesh

Indian Taiba leader taken on remand

2009-10-03

[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Indian national Emadullah alias Mahbub was taken on a four-day remand yesterday for quizzing by the Detective Branch of police. Assistant Commissioner Sanwar Hossain of DB, who led the drive to nab the Taiba leader, said Mahbub was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court seeking a remand for seven days but the court granted a four-day remand. "We sought the remand for quizzing Emadullah to know whether any Bangladeshi people involved in their militant activities," Sanwar said. Emadullah, who has been staying in the country since last three years was arrested from the city's Gabtoli on Wednesday night following confessional statements of two other top leaders and Indian nationals--Mufti Obaidullah alias Zafar and Maulana Monsur alias Habibullah who were arrested here in July. A nephew of detained Monsur, Emadullah is a resident of Padmapukur village under Bagda Police Station of Uttar Chobbish Pargana district of West Bengal in India. Earlier on Thursday DB officials said Emadullah became the Bangladesh chapter chief of Pakistan-based militant organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkatul Zihadia Islamia Azadia and Indian militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force after the arrest of Obaidullah and Habibullah.

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Bangladesh

Detained Lashkar man was new chief

2009-10-02

[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Indian national Emadullah alias Mahbub alias Mamun had been overseeing trespassing of militants into Bangladesh and shipment of explosives. Emadullah who was arrested from the capital on Wednesday night uses at least nine pseudonyms to escape law enforcers' dragnet, Detective Branch (DB) of police at a press conference at its office yesterday said. A case has been filed against him under the passport act. He will be produced before the court today seeking a 10-day remand. DB police said Emadullah became the Bangladesh chapter chief of Pakistan-based militant organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkatul Zihadia Islamia Azadia and Indian militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force after the arrest of top two Taiba leaders and Indian nationals--Mufti Obaidullah alias Zafar and Maulana Monsur alias Habibullah in July from the capital. All three? Between three organizations and nine false identities, he must have felt like one of those shattered personalities in the middle of a hurricane. Addressing the press conference, Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam of DB said Emadullah admitted that after the arrest of the top two leaders, their networks have been dismantled. To escape arrest, the Indian militants who are still hiding in Bangladesh have stopped contact with their fellows abroad, he said. Monirul said, "We think the detained three militants were planning to carry out massive subversive activities either in India or Bangladesh." They had a close link with Mufti Hannan-led Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, he added. A nephew of Monsur, Emadullah is a resident of Padmapukur village under Bagda Police Station of Uttar Chobbish Pargana district of West Bengal in India. Talking to reporters at the DB office, Emadullah said he first entered Bangladesh in April 2005 and after staying here for 22 days he went to Pakistan where he took a month-long training on AK-47 rifle, machine gun, rocket launcher, sniper gun and explosives, including hand grenade. Pakistan national and Taiba leader Khurram Khyyum alias Abdullah had arranged a passport for him and the training in Pakistan. In his passport, he was named as Ripon Mian, a permanent resident of Pabna district. Emadullah said when he reached the Zia International Airport from Pakistan, Abdullah took away his passport. He also said after he alighted from a PIA flight at Karachi airport, one Mehabub received him and took straight to a rest house. From there he along with four other Indian militants was taken to the training camp at hilly Beluchistan. After the training Emadullah returned to India through Bangladesh and started working for his organisation. Law enforcers of India arrested him as militant Mehabub who was earlier arrested along with some explosives had told them that Emadullah was arranging his flight to Bangladesh. He later escaped from police custody and again entered Bangladesh in 2006. After staying several months in Jessore, he came to Tongi of Gazipur and took a job at Dhaka Tobacco Industries. Emadullah said he used to get Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000 from Abdullah who was sending the money from Pakistan through Western Union Money Transfer for meeting his personal expenditures. He also said Abdullah has stopped sending the money recently.

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Bangladesh

Foreign militants used Bangla as transit point

2009-09-02

[Bangla Daily Star] Militants fighting in Kashmir have regularly used Bangladesh as a transit point to travel to Pakistan and have built safe havens here to shelter and train militants for terrorist operations in the region. Detained Indian terrorist Mufti Obaidullah, a top leader of the India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), revealed this information to law enforcers in his interrogation statement, obtained by The Daily Star. ARCF works as an associate of international terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Obaidullah said that Pakistani militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to enter India to run terrorist operations and fight with government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir then cross the border into Bangladesh to fly back to Pakistan. "As it was tough to cross back to Pakistan through the India-Pakistan border, the Mujahideen would cross to Bangladesh and then left for their destinations using fake passports and visas," the statement said. He said his student Selim and close associate Jalal helped him in this operation. The detained Indian militant also said that he built a safe-home in Habiganj in 2002 to shelter fugitive terrorists, and recruit and train Bangladeshis to take part in terrorist attacks in Kashmir, India, Pakistan. Obaidullah built the safe-shelter under the cover of a kindergarten named 'Noor Shah Islami Kindergarten' in Habiganj's Shayestaganj upazila. One of LeT's operations chiefs in Bangladesh, Faisal alias Khurram Khaiyam alias Abdullah, supplied Tk 18,000 in two lots to Obaidullah to construct the house. Intelligence sources said, however, that Obaidullah has not revealed all the details about his operations in Bangladesh since his arrival in 1995. In his statement, Obaidullah said several other militants in Bangladesh visited his safe-home, including Moulana Mohiuddin, who he knew from the Deoband madrasa, and Harkat-ul Jihad, Bangladesh leader Mufti Abdur Rouf. His fellow Indian LeT member Habibullah alias Mansur and Jamal, visited Srimangal twice in 2002 to rent a house for a temporary safe-home. Later, the then ARCF chief Asif Reza ordered Habibullah and Jamal to open a training camp for Bangladeshi recruits that would also serve as a safe shelter for Pakistani and Indian mujahideens, according to Obaidullah's statement. Obaidullah decided against opening the training camp because of security risks. In 2005, Obaidullah met ARCF chief Amir Reza, Asif Reza's brother, at Khurram's house near the Noorani mosque in Dhaka's Goran area. There, Amir asked Obaidullah to buy a permanent safe house and provide Jihadi training to Bangladeshi recruits. Obaidullah claims they insisted on giving him the responsibility for the camp despite his reluctance. At the end of 2008, Khurram called him from Pakistan to press him to work harder for the organisation as demanded by his senior commanders. Khurram also told Obaidullah that he may return to Bangladesh after he (Khurram) discusses the move with "ISI and LeT high-ups."

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Bangladesh

Militants sued for anti-state activities

2009-08-15

[Bangla Daily Star] A case was filed with Sadar Police Station of Satkhira against two militants for their anti-state activities. Sub-inspector Abdus Sabur filed the case against detained Jama'atul Mujaheedin Bangladesh member Montaz Ali and suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba activist Mohaddes Obaidullah. Montaz is a charge-sheeted accused in the six serial blasts case and Mohaddes is a close aide to detained Lashkar-e-Taiba leader and Indian national Mufti Obaidullah. Earlier on July 23 the chief judicial magistrate's court placed them on a ten-day remand for interrogation. JMB activist Montaz, son of Fazar Ali of village Kharibila, went into hiding soon after the serial bomb blasts on August 17 in 2005. He was arrested on July 21. Police arrested Mohaddes, son of Abdus Sattar Gazi of village Haripur in Shyamnagar upazila, from Itagachha area in the town on July 22. When in 1995 Indian national Mufti Obaidullah came to Bangladesh Mohaddes sheltered him at his house in Haripur. During interrogation, he said he came in contact with Mufti Obaidullah while he was a student of Sangu Madrasa in India in 1991.

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Bangladesh

Some politicians helped Lashkar put down roots

2009-08-11

[Bangla Daily Star] Besides the local chapter of Huji, some political leaders have been helping Pakistan-based militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to operate in Bangladesh. Investigators learned about the political patrons from two recently-detained LeT operatives and Indian nationals--Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali. They are now working to gather more about them, said sources in the intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Officials involved in the ongoing crackdown on militants said they have information that some politicians might have been sheltering LeT cadres as per secret deals with the terrorist group. Though law enforcers had detained several LeT operatives in the past, they formally admitted the outfit's existence here only last month after the Detective Branch of police arrested Obaidullah and Mansur. Before that, they had been denying reports about foreign militants ensconced in the country. A former investigator of the Rapid Action Battalion told these correspondents earlier that they had come to know about the existence of LeT and at least seven of its political patrons in Bangladesh during the last BNP-Jamaat-led government rule. But they could not carry the investigation through as they had limitations with the four-party alliance in power. Sources said investigators are confirmed that banned Islamist outfit Harkatul-Jihad-al Islami, Bangladesh, has all along been backing LeT operations here. The local political links became a focus of the investigation after names of some political leaders came up during interrogations of the detained Lashkar men. DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam who leads the agency's drive against militancy said, "We are now verifying the information and names we've got from the detained Lashkar leaders." He, however, would not say anything about identity of the political leaders suspected of aiding and abetting LeT in Bangladesh. Sources close to DB say some of the suspects are local level leaders of a political party and some are quite prominent at national level. Investigators would also examine if any of the political patrons of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh are involved in any foreign militant organisation like LeT. The law enforcers hope they will be able to make headway towards unearthing the LeT's political patrons once they capture some other Lashkar men in the country. Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mansur meantime disclosed that their organisation has been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years. They also said local LeT operatives have links to the network of absconding Indian underworld don Daud Ibrahim and Huji Bangladesh leaders. Both the detainees had been teaching at local madrasas since their illegal entrance to Bangladesh in 1995. "Obaidullah had been organising Bangladeshi youths for jihad on instructions from Ameer Reza, an Indian holed up in Pakistan," DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque told newsmen after Obaidullah's arrest. Talking to reporters while being paraded before the media, Obaidullah said four other most wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh. Following up information obtained from him, DB police arrested LeT leader Mansur Ali from Dakkhin Khan area in the capital on July 22. Mansur told reporters at the DMP headquarters that he had close relations with local Huji top brass including Mufti Hannan, Abdur Rouf, Abu Taher and Sheikh Abdus Salam

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Bangladesh

ARCF supplied grenades for Aug 21 attack

2009-08-01

[Bangla Daily Star] Kashmir-based militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), which works together with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), supplied grenades to LeT Bangladesh chapter leader Moulana Tajuddin for the August 21 attack in 2004. This was revealed by detained LeT leader Indian national Moulana Mansur Ali as the government pushes for further investigation into the grisly attack particularly to unearth if any influential quarters supplied the grenades. Mansur, who is also an ARCF organiser, told Detective Branch (DB) during interrogation that an ARFC leader, who is also from India, directly handed over the grenades to Tajuddin, brother of detained former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. The investigators however did not reveal the Indian national's name for the sake of investigation. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in its charge sheet only mentioned that Tajuddin had supplied the grenades. But the CID investigators could not find out who handed over the grenades to him and how. Chief Public Prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman on June 25 submitted a prayer to a Dhaka court for further investigation into the attack, which aimed to assassinate AL President Sheikh Hasina in 2004. Rahman in his prayer argued that experts and influential people who had supplied the grenades were still untraced. The court which has already heard the prayer on three dates has fixed August 3 for an order in this regard. "We're expecting more important leads from Mansur on the suppliers of grenades used in the August 21 attack," said a top detective on the understanding of anonymity. The grisly attack on Hasina's rally on Bangabandhu Avenue killed 23 AL leaders and workers and maimed over 300 others. The investigators say both ARCF and LeT have close links to the leaders of Harkatul Jihad al Islam (Huji) Bangladesh chapter and work together in the country. Mansur, who was living in Bangladesh for around 17 years with fake identity and serving as a madrasa teacher, also said most of the grenade throwers at the AL rally were Afghan war veterans having expertise in handling explosives, the sources add. Quoting Mansur, DB sources say the grenades were smuggled into the country through Satkhira border. The other detained LeT leader Mufti Obaidullah was also hiding in Bangladesh for 14 years assuming false identity and was serving as a madrasa teacher. DB Assistant Commissioner Sanwar Hossain, who arrested the two Indian militants, told The Daily Star, "Mansur said ARCF leaders led by a moulana handed over the grenades to Tajuddin." Quoting Mansur, Sanwar also said most of the grenade throwers were Afghan war veterans with skills in handling explosives. He added some others who took part in the attack were not fighters but were trained up by the war veterans. The CID submitted the charge sheet in the grenade attack case on June 11 last year accusing 22 people including Abdus Salam Pintu and Huji leader Mufti Hannan. According to the charge sheet, apart from Pintu, all other accused are Huji leaders and activists. Of them, 14 are now behind bars, including Pintu, Mufti Hannan and his brother Mohibullah, Moulana Abu Sayeed, Moulana Abu Taher, Mufti Moinuddin Sheikh alias Abu Zandal. The eight absconding accused are Pintu's brothers Tajuddin and Moulana Liton, Anisul Mursalin and his brother Mahibul Muttakin, Iqbal, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, Jahangir Alam Badar and Khalilur Rahman.

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Bangladesh

Another Lashkar man captured

2009-07-22

[Bangla Daily Star] Detective Branch of police has arrested another Indian national linked to Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the capital. The arrestee, Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali, was also an organiser of Asif Reza Commando Force, the terrorist outfit responsible for the attack on American Centre in Kolkata on January 22, 2002. DB police claim they made the arrest swooping on a madrasa in Dakkhin Khan area on Monday night. They carried out the raid following up information gleaned from Mufti Obaidullah, an Indian and LeT operative captured in Dhaka recently. Mansur was paraded before the media at the DB headquarters yesterday. DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam said the militant leader entered Bangladesh illegally from India in 1995. Under the alias Habibullah, he worked as teacher in different Islamic seminaries. Before joining Madrasatur Rahman at Saodagarbari of Dakkhin Khan, Mansur taught at Nurani Madrasa at Moralimore, Bagharpara Madrasa in Jessore, Porasunda Maktab in Habiganj and Tikarpur Madrasa at Nababganj in Dhaka. Obaidullah too had been holed up in the country as a madrasa teacher. An Afghan war veteran, Mansur was above him in the LeT hierarchy. He told reporters he was a student when he joined the Afghan war against the then Soviet troops. He said he had close relations with local Huji top brass including Mufti Hannan, Abdur Rouf, Abu Taher and Sheikh Abdus Salam. He however denied having links to any attacks staged by the Harkatul Jihad al Islami operatives in Bangladesh, another banned Islamist organisation. Trained in operation of AK-47 assault rifle, machinegun, rocket launcher and anti-aircraft weapons, Mansur returned to India in 1993. He moved back and forth between Pakistan and Afghanistan after the war ended in 1989. Back in India, he joined fellow Afghan war returnees in efforts to recruit youths to fight the Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir, read a DB press release. He came under Indian intelligence watch in 1994. After arrest, Mansur kept claiming that he is from Shriramkathi village under Jhikargachha upazila in Jessore. DB officials took him there for crosscheck and found his claim to be false. DC Monirul said Mansur participated in at least 25 battles in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Daud Merchant, detained Indian underworld operative, gave police leads about the LeT leaders hiding in Bangladesh. Merchant, a close aide to mafia don Daud Ibrahim, is one of those accused of killing music baron Gulshan Kumar in Mumbai in 1997. He and his associate Zahid Sheikh were arrested one and a half month ago.

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