Far from calling it quits after the Gazipur operation, detectives have now said that they believe that more militant hideouts may be located in the vicinity of the capital Dhaka and beyond.
A Detective Branch official who preferred to remain anonymous said there were plans for conducting operations to hunt for Neo JMB dens in Ashulia, Narayanganj, Savar, Munshiganj, Keraniganj, Manikganj, Tangail, Gazipur and Narsinghdi.
Leading the police offensive against the militants is the counter-terrorism unit’s Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanwar Hossain.
He expressed confidence that the force would manage to smoke out the militants from all their hideouts.
“We thought the Gazipur operation would be the last one. Now it seems at least three more hideouts are left. When we get the necessary information, raids will be conducted,” he said.
He shared the unit’s recent experience of getting familiar with the militants’ inclination to set up dens in suburbs and remote areas to avoid public attention.
“In most of the cases the terrorists rent apartments in areas less frequented by people. They want to carry explosives and ammunition without much hassle to peddle their operations,” Hossain said.
Security forces said that after the Gulshan cafe attack on July 1, two militant hideouts were detected last Saturday in Gazipur.
Nine people were killed during the raids at those places while two more were killed in another operation in Tangail the same day.
Recent operations
Jul 26, in Kalyanpur, nine dead
Aug 27, in Narayanganj, three dead
Sep 2, in Mirpur, one dead
Sep 10, in Azimpur, one dead
Oct 8, in Gazipur, nine dead
Oct 8, in Tangail, two dead
Security forces claim that the operations have eliminated some of the top leaders of Neo JMB, including the outfit’s chief Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, who died during the Narayanganj operation.
Tanvir Qaderi was killed during the Azimpur raid. Police believe he was the outfit’s second in command.
Police say militants had their lair on the fifth floor of this building named `Taj Manzil’ on Road No.5 in Kalyanpur.
Journalists and onlookers gathered in front of a house in Rupnagar after the killing of a suspected militant in a raid on it on Friday.
Sanwar Hossain appreciated the security forces on their heightened vigilance which he said had destroyed the militants’ ability to mount any fresh strike.
“In Dhaka, police are making door-to-door visits to nab them and collecting information from people from all areas, while apps and other online resources are also yielding a lot of information. So militants cannot do anything big in Dhaka right now,” he said.
Despite laying claim to some big hunts, he conceded that Gulshan attack prime masterminds Nurul Islam Marzan, Basaruzzaman Chocolate and Rajiv Gandhi, continue to elude the police.
Detectives believe they are hiding somewhere in the country.
Counter-terrorism unit chief Md Monirul Islam had recently said that if these militants could be caught, the entire Gulshan conspiracy could be unearthed, including the sources of wealth and weapons for the attack.
Apart from Faridul Islam Akash, police have not been able to ascertain the identities of those killed in the raid at Gazipur’s Patartek.
Police released their photographs on Sunday, seeking information about them.
Sanwar Hossain said that in an attempt to identify those killed in Gazipur, their faces were compared with the photos of suspected Neo JMB members.
But most of them did not match, he added.
He said that the detectives had information on several active Neo JMB members reported missing for a while.
“Brothers Rafique al Hassan and Ayat Hassan of Mirpur and Tanvir Qaderi’s son are not among the ones killed in Gazipur. There is evidence that they are functional in the Neo JMB,” Hossain said.
“Like them, there are a few others. We have obtained information on them through arrested Neo JMB members and other documents seized during previous raids,” he said.
Detectives believe that they are currently holed up in some other hideouts. Hossain, however, believes that their number is not very large.
Source: Bd news24
