The Detective Branch of police in a raid on a militants’ hideout at Chandpur town on Thursday morning arrested a ‘sector commander’ of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen and intelligence sources believe he holds vital clues to recent spate of terror attacks especially in the southeastern districts of the country. DB inspector Rustom Alam said the militant, Ghalib (24), captured from a garage in the town had confessed that he was the ‘sector commander’ of JMB in charge of operation in Chandpur, Comilla, Luxmipur and Noakhali areas.Ghalib was captured less than 24 hours after police arrested Khankar Mahfuz (22), who claimed himself to be the ‘area commander’ of JMB, from his house at village Ponsoi in Kachua upazila on Wednesday. He told interrogations that there were two secret camps of militants in the town–one at Professor Para and the other at Maddhya Torpurchandi and from these dens, he secretly planned all subversive or Jihadi activities in Chandpur and three other districts. He confessed that he, at the directive of the JMB high command, plotted the October 3 bomb attacks on district courts and also the August 17 chain bombings in the region with the help of Abul Kalam Azad.
Ghalib told police that on October 3, his party had planned to bomb some judges to death and also to attack police patrols. During interrogation Ghalib, confessed to his involvement in both the rounds of explosions on Aug 17 and Oct 3 in Chandpur district. "JMB high command ordered us to kill local judges and launch attack on police patrols during the operation on Oct 3," he was quoted as telling the interrogators. One parson was killed and five others were injured in a blast at local judge’s court on Oct 3, when Chittagong and Laxmipur courts were also bombed.
A total of seven suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the Aug 17 and Oct 3 blasts in the district. Police arrested one Sohrab Hossain Billal when he was trying to flee the court premises just after bombs went off on the first floor of the District Judge’s Court here on October 3. Ghalib’s full name is Shamim Hossain, son of Tamizuddin Sardar. Ghalib, who was visibly shaky during interrogation, hails from Etagachha, Satkhira district. With the arrest of Ghalib, seven JMB operatives including two top commanders of the banned outfit have so far been arrested in the district. Ghalib told police that the JMB had a wide network in Chandpur with many hardcore jihadis active in the district. Based on Ghalib’s confessional statement, special teams of police are frantically searching for others religious zealots in Barura and Chandina of Comilla district.