Pakistani militants arrested in Bangladesh

by Smriti Sen Gupta
March 1, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/563/pakistani-militants-arrested-in-bangladesh

A wing of Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] detained five Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals suspected of being members of Pakistan-based militant organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad [JeM] at Mirpur and New Market in Dhaka on February 28, 2010.

One of the detained was identified as Rezwan Ahmed, 26, a Pakistani citizen. Battalion officials said his father's name is Shafi Uddin, a resident of House 170, Road 8 in the Delhi Colony in Karachi.

'The arrested Pakistani citizen, a member of Jaish-e-Mohammad, was involved in fuelling insurgencies in India using the soil of Bangladesh,' Colonel Motiur Rahman, additional director general of the battalion, told newsmen in the battalion headquarters.

On primary interrogation, Rezwan said he had been trained to operate AK-47, machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and explosive devices. He said his assignment here was to recruit local youths and prepare them to stage attacks in India.

The other arrestees are Nannu Mian alias Belal Mandol alias Billal, 35, Abu Naser Munshi, 28, Imad Uddin alias Munna, 18, and Sadeque Hossain alias Khoka, 19--are his local associates.

A battalion team captured Rezwan, Imad Uddin, Abu Naser and Sadek Hossain from a house at Sukanya Tower at Mirpur Road area in Dhaka. Another team, based on the information provided by the people detained, later arrested Nannu Mian at New Market area in Dhaka, said Motiur Rahman. The Sukanya Tower at Mirpur is owned by a local named Mohiuddin, who hails from Chandpur district. Mohiuddin's brother Salauddin is also involved with this Islamist militancy group. According to RAB sources, Mohiuddin is presently the President of a local unit of Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP], who earlier was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The battalion also seized three illegal passports, a knife, a computer, four identity cards, five mobiles and Indian currencies.

When the detained were presented before the media, the Pakistani citizen said he had received training in firearms and explosives of different kinds. The battalion however did not allow the suspects to answer any questions from the media.

Motiur said Rezwan had been recruiting members of the outfit and acting as its regional coordinator. 'He has been in Bangladesh for three and half years.'

One of the detained, Nannu Mian aka Billal, was arrested by earlier by Indian authorities and he had been in jail for 10 years in connection with hijacking a plane in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1999, the battalion official said. Billal told journalists that he was arrested in an anti-state case in India. He also admitted that he had a role in hijacking the Indian Airlines plane, which was flying to Delhi from Kathmandu. The hijackers forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar of the then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The Indian authorities had to set free three militant leaders including JeM supremo Moulana Masood Azhar in exchange for passengers taken hostage. Billal said he was born in Darampur village under Sylhet Sadar. He is married to a woman hailing from Bashirhat of the Indian state of West Bengal. He said he had tried to enter India through Satkhira border a few months back to appear before a Bashirhat court hearing a case against him.

Along with another militant group, Jaish is blamed for the attack on Indian parliament in Delhi in December 2001. It is also suspected to have a role in the abduction and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi. After the parliament attack, Pakistan government banned the organization and the US State Department listed it as a terrorist outfit.

After the latest arrest of the members of the notorious Islamist militancy group, which was behind the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, security questions of internationally known anti-Jihadist Bangladeshi journalist and Weekly Blitz editor Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury once again comes at the forefront. Military backed interim government withdrew police protection from the residence of Mr. Choudhury at personal initiatives of pro-Islamist members of that government.

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