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Bangladesh

Plot hatched in Hawa Bhaban meetings

2011-04-08

[Bangla Daily Star] Mufti Hannan in a confessional statement disclosed the involvement of Hawa Bhaban and some former BNP ministers and intelligence officials in the August 21, 2004, grenade attack on an Awami League rally. Harkat-ul Jihad (HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. ) leader Mufti Mohammad Abdul Hannan made the fresh confessional statement before a Dhaka court yesterday about the attack that left Ivy Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman, dead along with 23 others and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina maimed. At least 300 others were also injured. On October 27, 2009, The Daily Star published an investigative report on the attack. The report disclosed the chilling conspiracy that was hatched in Hawa Bhaban. Hannan, prime accused in the case, on November 1, 2007, made a confessional statement but Criminal Investigation Department moved for a new confessional statement following revaluations of more information through investigation. First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan recorded yesterday's statement for over five hours from 4:00pm. Sources in the CID said in the first confessional statement Hannan admitted carrying out the attack but in the new statement he said the attack was planned in meetings held at the Hawa Bhaban. Hawa Bhaban was widely regarded as the alternative powerhouse of the then BNP-led coalition government. Hannan said the meetings were held in presence of some then BNP ministers and businessmen close to BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami top brass. However, The emphatic However... the CID sources declined to disclose names of the people Hannan mentioned. Hannan said runaway Maulana Tajuddin, brother of jugged former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, had coordinated the attackers and the people of different agencies who aided them. In the first confessional statement, Hannan said they had smuggled in the grenades from Afghanistan, where Hannan had joined the Mujahideens to fight against the Soviets in the 1980s. Now he says that the grenades came from Pakistain via Chittagong. In the first statement, Hannan said they planned the attack in a Badda house in the capital a few days ahead. He had said around 12 hard boyz carried out the attack. He had said they wanted to kill Sheikh Hasina because she had slapped a ban on religious edict when she was in power, the sources added. CID Special Superintendent Abdul Kahar Akand, investigation officer of the case, declined to make any comment on the new statement of Hannan. So far, 12 accused have given confessional statements admitting their involvement in the attack. They are Mufti Hannan, his brother Mohibullah alias Mafizur Rahman alias Ovi, Sharif Shahidul Islam alias Bipul, Maulana Abu Sayeed alias Abu Zafar, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Arif Hossain, Rafiqul Islam Sabuj and Jahangir Alam, Islamic Democratic Party leader Sheikh Abdus Salam, Pakistain based LeT leader Abdul Majid alias Yusuf Butt, LeT leader Abdul Malek alias Golam Mohammad and Abdur Rouf. The eight absconding accused are Pintu's brothers Maulana Tajuddin and Maulana Liton, Anisul Mursalin and his brother Mahibul Muttakin, Iqbal, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, Jahangir Alam Badar and Khalilur Rahman. On June 11, 2008, the CID submitted a charge sheet accusing 22 people, including top HuJI leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. But the court asked police for further investigation into the attack to find out the sources of the grenades used in the attack, the suppliers of the grenades and also to unfold the mystery behind defusing the unwent kaboom! grenades soon after recovery. During the rule of BNP-led coalition government, the then Sherlocks allegedly staged a drama to mislead the investigation and protect the real culprits.

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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 hunt for 40 Huji operatives

2010-01-20

[Bangla Daily Star] Around 40 operatives of outlawed Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (Huji) including convicted and charge-sheeted accused of different bomb attack cases are still on the run, posing a threat to the country. Some of the absconding militants are holding secret meetings and were even training up members at a secluded place in Mohammadpur in the capital a few months ago. However, the militants cancelled the training and abandoned the area after different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies started a hunt for them months after the present government assumed power, intelligence and Huji sources say. The absconding Huji leaders include some of the top brasses like Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abu Bakar, Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Maulana Liton, Abdul Hye, Abu Jehad, Abu Musa, Abdullah, Sagir Bin Emdad, Maulana Monir, Maulana Masum and Golam Mostafa. Most of them have training on sophisticated weapons and grenades. Sources in the law-enforcement agencies believe the militants responsible for deadly bomb and grenade attacks and death of over 90 people since 1999 are still a threat. However, top officials from Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Detective Branch (DB) say since the absconding militants are on the run, possibility of any attack by them is very slim. "There is little chance of any attack by Huji men since we are always after them," Rab Director General Hassan Mahmood Khandkar told The Daily Star recently. DB Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam also expressed similar view on the issue. The Rab DG said they have lists of the members of not only Huji but also other militant outfits including banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and are always after them. Some Afghan war veterans launched the Bangladesh chapter of Huji on April 30, 1992 with an aim to establish Islamic rule in the country. Since then it spread its tentacles across the country until 1996 with the very knowledge of the then government. After the political changeover in 2001 Huji again started its activities which were an open secret to the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government. Probes into the August 21 attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's [then main opposition leader] life have already revealed involvement of former deputy minister of BNP government Abdus Salam Pintu and a number of Huji leaders. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is now carrying out further investigation into the cases and has already arrested BNP leader and former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Huji founder Sheikh Abdus Salam. The sources say an influential intelligence agency helped Maulana Tajuddin, who supplied grenades for the August 21 attacks, flee the country. The sources add the agency in October 2004 also helped Hafez Jahangir Badar flee to Saudi Arabia where he became a major source of Huji funding later. Some Huji kingpins including the outfit's founders Sheikh Abdus Salam and Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid even used to meet a section of officials of that intelligence agency during the BNP-Jamaat rule and even during the immediate past caretaker rule, say the sources. Salam, arrested in November last year in connection with the August 21 carnage, claimed he had maintained connection with the agency and tried to form Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) with its consent during the caretaker regime. Some 475 Afghan war veterans joined the IDP, sources say. The attacks by Huji include the August 21 carnage in 2004, Ramna Batamul blast in 2001, Udichi blast in 1999, Narayanganj Awami League office blast in 2001, CPB rally blast at Paltan Maidan in 2001, and attempt on the then British high commissioner in 2004. The sources say intelligence agencies launched raids on Huji hideouts to trap militant leaders including Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid in vain in recent months. Two of the Huji absconders -- Anisul Mursalin and Muhibul Mottakin -- are now in Tihar Jail in India after they were arrested by the Indian security forces in 2006.

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Bangladesh

Huji founder sings

2009-12-04

[Bangla Daily Star] Founder of banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (Huji) Sheikh Abdus Salam yesterday confessed to his involvement in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally. In a statement given to a Dhaka court, Salam also disclosed the names of a number of top administrative officials and politicians as involved in the gruesome attack. After his statement was recorded by Metropolitan Magistrate Moazzem Hossain, Salam, also chief of Islamic Democratic Party, was sent to jail. Another metropolitan magistrate's court yesterday sent Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member Abdul Majid Butt alias Abu Yusuf Butt on a two-day fresh remand. In his confessional statement, which came after 15 days' remand by the Criminal Investigation Department in phases, Salam narrated the planning and implementation of the grenade attack that left 24 persons killed and 300 injured. CID's Additional Superintendent of Police Abdul Kahar Akand, who is the investigation officer of the case, told The Daily Star that of the accused Salam gave the first confessional statement. CID and court sources said Salam was produced at the court around 2:00pm and Magistrate Moazzem Hossain recorded his statement for six hours. Salam was arrested on November 2 for suspected links with the August 21 incident. According to sources, the Huji founder narrated the roles of a few top political leaders and influential administrative officials in the attempt to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was the opposition leader in parliament at that time when the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance was in power. In his statement, Salam admitted that he was present at a meeting held at the Dhanmondi residence of detained former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. Pintu's fugitive brother and LeT leader Maulana Tajuddin, detained former BNP state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, detained Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and other influential persons were also present at the meeting, Salam said. He said he returned to Bangladesh after the end of Afghan war against erstwhile Soviet Union and formed Huji along with other veterans of the war. He confessed to having trained many youths, mainly madrasa students, in operating firearms and bombs. Apart from Bangladeshis, most of their recruits came from the Pakistan-administered Kashmir, he said. They had also mobilised funds, arms and ammunition for insurgents in Kashmir of India. Earlier, CID investigator Abdul Kahar Akand told the court that Pintu and Babar had assisted Huji in its attempt to kill Hasina at the rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital. He said Huji had also planned to kill Hasina and some of her party colleagues during the Awami League's 1996-2001 tenure as it considered the AL government an obstacle to its activities like recruiting and training operatives, and procuring firearms for militants in India and Afghanistan. Akand said Babar and Pintu had directly helped Tajuddin, who supplied the grenades for the August 21 attack, flee the country and take shelter in Pakistan. The CID pressed charges against Pintu, his brother and 20 others including Huji boss Mufti Hannan during the last caretaker government's rule. It arrested Babar after a court on August 3 ordered further investigation into the grenade attack to find out the patrons of the attackers and suppliers of the grenades. The investigators are now working to hunt down the other charge-sheeted accused. Abu Yusuf Butt was placed on remand by Metropolitan Magistrate Rashed Kabir after the CID produced him before the court with a prayer for three days' fresh remand. He had been remanded for 12 days on different terms in the case. Earlier, the CID said Yusuf had come to Bangladesh years ago with the help of LeT leader Maulana Tajuddin and adopted the name Abdul Majid to stay in the country and carry out militant activities.

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Bangladesh

Babar, Salam helped Huji execute plot

2009-12-02

[Bangla Daily Star] Detained former BNP ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Abdus Salam Pintu had assisted banned Islamist group Huji in its botched attempt to kill Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on August 21, 2004. Abdul Kahar Akand, investigation officer in two cases filed for August 21 grenade attack, said this at a Dhaka court yesterday. He was seeking a day's fresh remand for Huji founder Sheikh Abdus Salam. The court granted the prayer. The IO said Harkatul Jihad al Islami first planned to kill Hasina, now prime minister, and some of her party colleagues during AL's previous tenure in 1996-2001. It took the decision as it found the then government an obstacle to its campaign that included recruiting and training youths as its operatives, and procurement of firearms for fellow militants fighting in India and Afghanistan. "Huji grew desperate to execute the plan after the Awami League rule ended [in 2001]. At that time, they had assistance from Babar and Pintu through Pintu's brother and Huji leader Moulana Tajuddin," Akand said in his remand prayer to Metropolitan Magistrate Zulfiker Hayat. Some other individuals too had aided Huji in its failed bid to assassinate Hasina five years ago, he added. Akand said Babar and Pintu, then state minister for home and deputy minister for education, had directly helped Tajuddin flee the country and take shelter in Pakistan. Tajuddin, still at large, had supplied the grenades used in the August 21 blasts that killed at least 23 AL leaders and workers and injured over 300 others, he added. Both Salam Pintu and his brother are charge-sheeted accused in the August 21 carnage cases. The Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges against them and 20 others including Huji boss Mufti Abdul Hannan during the last caretaker government rule. It arrested Babar after a court on August 3 ordered further investigation to find out the patrons of the attackers and suppliers of the grenades. Akand, an additional superintendent of police at CID, said they had lately seized some documents and Tajuddin's journal following up information gleaned from Salam. The papers may hold important clues. At present, the investigators are working to hunt down the others who had aided and abetted the Huji men in the attack. Salam, now convener of Islamic Democratic Party, was earlier remanded for 14 days. He was arrested on November 2 for suspected links with the August 21 blasts. During interrogation, he said he returned to Bangladesh after the end of Afghan war against former Soviet Union and formed Huji along with other war returnees. He said they had trained many youths, mainly madrasa students, how to operate firearms and bombs. Most of their recruits came from Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Bangladesh. They had also mobilised funds, arms and ammunition for insurgents in Kashmir of India. But the going got tough after AL came to power in 1996.

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Bangladesh

LeT member Butt on fresh 2-day remand

2009-12-01

[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday placed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member Abdul Majid Butt alias Abu Yusuf Butt on a fresh two-day remand after he gave information on physician Azizur Rahman's abduction. Metropolitan Magistrate Abdur Rahim placed Yusuf Butt on the remand while Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Inspector Mohammad Shahjahan, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, produced him before it seeking a ten-day further remand. CID Inspector Shahjahan said in the petition as Butt did not divulge -- on the previous three-day remand from November 26 -- how the physician was abducted, so he should be remanded again to find out the victim's whereabouts and their accomplices. Azizur Rahman, a resident of Mazar Road under Mirpur area of the capital, was kidnapped on September 4, 2003. His wife Farhana Reza Jui filed a case against five people without naming anyone on September 23 same year with Mirpur police station. Yusuf Butt was shown arrested in the case on November 26 after information gleaned from Harkatul Jihad chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and Islamic Democratic Party Convener Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam. Mufti Hannan, Abdus Salam and several others were also shown arrested in the case and were remanded for several times. Yusuf Butt was arrested on January 6 this year from Uttara for possessing firearms and later he was shown arrested in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case and was remanded for several times.

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Bangladesh

Now Majid's Kashmiri identity unearthed

2009-11-18

[Bangla Daily Star] After over 11 months of his arrest, Abdul Majid has been identified as an Indian national and a senior leader of Kashmir-based militant organisation Hizbul Mujahedin, a front organisation of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, which works in Kashmir. Majid's real name is Yusuf Butt who had been staying in the country for years using fake identity to carry out militant activities. Yusuf Butt alias Majid was placed on a four-day remand yesterday after he was taken on five days' remand from November 12 in August 21 grenade attack case. Earlier on November 11 a Dhaka court placed Majid on a five-day remand. During the interrogation in August 21 grenade attack case, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigators have come to know his real and his links to Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Moulana Tajuddin, brother of detained former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, and leaders of banned Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji). Additional ASP Abdul Kahar Akand of CID, also the investigation officer of the grenade attack case, told The Daily Star that Yusuf Butt hails from Terigaon village under Kulgaon Police Station of Islamabad district in Kashmir of Indian part. "Yusuf Butt had been staying in the country using fake name Abdul Majid and carrying out militant activities, supplying arms and grenades from Kashmir to the Bangladeshi militants," the CID investigator said. Replying to a query Kahar Akand said Yusuf Butt went to Pakistan and India several times from Bangladesh. CID sources said Yusuf is a close friend of fugitive accused Moulana Tajuddin and they had been collecting grenades and arms from Kashmir. Uttara police arrested Yusuf on January this year in an arms case as a Bangladeshi terrorist and on November 10 he was shown arrested in the grenade attack case following a confessional statement of Huji founder Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, also chief of Islamic Democratic Party.

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Bangladesh

Babar sent to jail

2009-11-14

[Bangla Daily Star] Detained former BNP state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar was sent to Dhaka central jail yesterday after 12 days' remand in the August 21 grenade attack case. Investigation Officer of the case Abdul Kahar Akand produced Babar before the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on expiry of the former minister's remand in the third phase. Babar gave vital information about the grenade attack, sources of grenades, 10-truck arms haul in Chittagong and other militant attacks in the country, said Kahar, also senior assistant superintendent of police of Criminal Investigation Department. "Information given by Babar is being verified and he should be kept in jail until the investigation is completed," he said. He also said they might need to remand Babar, one of the patrons of the attackers, further. The IO told the court that they arrested some militant leaders acting on information obtained from Babar. Babar admitted that he exerted pressure on law enforcers not to arrest Harkatul Jihad al Islami chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, the main accused in the plot to assassinate Sheikh Hasina in 2000, CID said. During interrogation, Huji founder Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam and its leader Abdul Majid said Babar and grenade supplier Moulana Tajuddin, brother of former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, had business relations, it said. Babar also helped Tajuddin to leave the country, CID added. The court sent Babar, shown arrested on October 26 in the case, to jail rejecting his bail prayer.

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Bangladesh

Ctg grenades used in all attacks

2009-11-13

[Bangla Daily Star] The grenades that went missing from the Chittagong 10-truck arms cache in 2004 were used in all grenade attacks including the one on August 21 Awami League rally, detained former BNP state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar has told interrogators. The grenades were used in attacks on Shah AMS Kibria, former British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury, AL leader Suranjit Sengupta and Sylhet City Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran, Babar told Criminal Investigation Department officials during interrogation in the August 21 grenade attack case. The former state minister said three days after the August 21 incident Harris Chowdhury asked him to go to Hawa Bhaban where former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu was also present. Both Harris and Pintu had threatened Babar to strip him of ministerial post when he refused hiding the truth and saving the perpetrators, Babar said. The two also told him not to show any curiosity about the sources of the grenades. Babar mentioned that all grenade attacks were made in the country after the arms haul at Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Jetty on April 2, 2004 when a huge number of grenades and arms went missing, CID sources said. Meanwhile, detained Harkatul Jihad al Islam leader Abdul Majid admitted that he received the grenades from Laskar-e-Taiba leader Moulana Tajuddin, also brother of Pintu, for carrying out attack on the AL rally. But he was not sure from where Tajuddin collected them, said sources. CID sources said Babar however denied his involvement in supplying the grenades saying he came to know about it after the attack. Babar also said he didn't know then the number of missing grenades as intelligence agency personnel did not give him any information about it. Meanwhile, Huji founder Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam divulged that the plan to assassinate Sheikh Hasina was finalised after the masterminds received some of the missing grenades. Tajuddin collected the grenades from them, he added. CID interrogated Babar, Salam and Majid together to crosscheck information. Babar would be produced before the court today as his remand for third phase ended yesterday.

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Bangladesh

Babar was in thick of things

2009-11-05

[Bangla Daily Star] Lutfozzaman Babar, in collusion with former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and his brother Moulana Tajuddin, used banned Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) to execute the August 21 grenade attack, said Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sources. Former BNP state minister for home Babar, who was taken on a fresh remand yesterday for four days, disclosed it during the five-day interrogation by the CID investigators. Meanwhile, senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abdul Kahar Akand of CID, also the investigation officer of the case, yesterday told the court the unexploded grenades recovered from the spot could have been the most important evidence with the fingerprints of the criminals, but Babar had arranged to destroy those in a hurry without the court permission. Abdul Kahar Akand also said Babar did not register the case in the monitoring cell of the home ministry to hide his own criminal acts and save the real culprits. Rather he tried to mislead the case by cooking up a Joj Miah episode. The CID investigator told the chief metropolitan magistrate's court that as Babar divulged a lot of important information about smuggling of illegal arms, grenades and explosives during interrogation he needs to be put on a further 10-day remand for more information. Second Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Habibur Rahman Siddique, however, granted a four-day remand. Huji founder Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, also the convenor of Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), is now on a six-day remand in connection with the August 21 grenade attack on an AL rally that killed 23 people and injured over 300 others on Bangabandhu Avenue in 2004. Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan also gets a grilling by the CID officials.

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Bangladesh

Huji founder Salam held

2009-11-03

[Bangla Daily Star] The Criminal Investigation Department yesterday arrested Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, founder of banned Islamist group Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji), for suspected links with the August 21 grenade blasts. A Dhaka court placed the arrestee on a six-day remand in the afternoon. The detention comes a week after former BNP state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar was shown arrested in the case filed for the blasts. Queried, CID officials did not give the exact time and place of Salam's arrest. They only said they picked him up from the city yesterday. Meanwhile, a source close to Salam's family claimed a team of plainclothes CID men held him Sunday afternoon on the Dhaka Judges' Court premises where he went to appear before a court in the CPB rally blast case.

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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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