A member of the gang of robbers, who looted a bank in Ashulia and killed nine people, has confessed that he is an active member of militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team.
This is the same outfit that investigators believe are also behind the murders of secularist activists Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman, Prof AKM Shafiul Islam, Ahmed Rajeeb Haider and Ashraful Alam.
Late Monday night, police picked up the robber named Jasim Uddin, 22, at Daulatpur of Manikganj. Originally from the Chapainawabganj district, Jasim was hiding at his in-laws in Daulatpur.
Yesterday, he was produced before the court of Shahinur Rahman, a senior judicial magistrate of Dhaka, reports our court correspondent.
Jasim confessed that they had been planning to rob the bank for a long time and there were 10 members in the gang who staged the robbery, said a source from the court.
He also confessed that he got injured in a bomb blast when they were escaping, the source said.
On April 21, armed criminals robbed a branch of Bangladesh Commerce Bank at Kathgora in Ashulia industrial area near Dhaka, killing nine people. More than 20 sustained bullet and splinter wounds when the robbers opened fire and set off bombs while escaping.
One of the robbers were lynched and two others were handed over to police by a local mob. Jasim is believed to be one of the members of the band who managed to flee. They also left behind more than Tk6 lakh that they had looted.
In a press conference at the DMP media centre in Dhaka yesterday, Khandakar Golam Faruk, an additional deputy inspector general of police, said that the film-like robbery was meant for getting money for Ansarullah’s militant activities.
Jasim is also suspected for hacking the manager of the bank to death and injuring an old man, Faruk said.
In reply to a query, the police high up said that they had also detained a security guard of the bank on suspicion that he might have been involved with the heist.
Law enforcers have already arrested two suspected militants from Tongi of Gazipur in connection with the robbery.
Police said the matter of Ansarullah’s involvement came up during custodial interrogation of two suspected robbers Borhan, 35, and Saiful, 25.
An investigator said that Borhan is well connected with Ansarullah chief Jashim Uddin Rahmani, now in jail, and is one
of the suspects for the Burdwan blast in India as well.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
