Jhenidah Hideout: 'Neo JMB' made bombs there

The Jhenidah den that counterterrorism officials busted on Friday was a “Neo JMB” bomb-making factory from where explosives were supplied to other dens of the militant group, officials say.

Top “Neo JMB” leaders used to visit the factory, a two-room tin-shed house in the district's Porahati village. Key militants like Maynul Islam Musa, Sohel Mahfuz and Hasidur Rahman Sagor often held operational meetings there, according to investigators.

Musa is suspected to have been killed in a recent drive by law enforcers in Sylhet while two others are still at large.

Sohel is a former member of Majlis-e-Shura of mainstream JMB and Sagor is also an ex-leader of the outfit. The duo played an important role in supplying grenades and firearms to the offshoot -- “Neo JMB” as called by law enforcers -- for carrying out the Gulshan café attack last year.

Besides, Sohel is an uncle of top militant Nurul Islam Marzan and Sagor is Marzan's brother-in-law, investigators added.  

 Allegedly the operational commander of the Gulshan attack, Marzan was killed in a “shootout” on January 6 this year.

“Police detected the den after analysing communication devices recovered from the outfit's Chittagong hideout busted last month” Proloy Kumar Joarder, deputy commissioner of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of DMP, told The Daily Star.

“But the militants managed to flee before the operation.”

Proloy said it was the “biggest” bomb-making factory they have ever busted.

From there, they recovered a large number of handmade detonators, a pressure cooker bomb and a 7.65mm pistol along with papers related to its purchase.

Police also found 20 containers each having capacity of 30 litres -- all full of hydrogen peroxide.  

The pressure cooker bomb was defused, said an official, adding its manufacturing technique was unique and it could be used as a time bomb.

Sanowar Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of the bomb disposal unit of CTTC unit, told this newspaper that 500 to 1,000 bombs the size of a grenade could be manufactured with the seized chemical.

Sanowar added the chemical is locally available at low price. It is mainly used at laboratories at colleges or universities or big industries.

With the help of local police, the CTTC unit cordoned off the hideout around 5:30pm on Friday and declared suspension of the operation codenamed “Southpaw” around 8:00pm after recovery of the materials.

The operation resumed around 9:15am yesterday and the bomb disposal unit defused the explosive. It continued for about four hours and 45 minutes.

Didar Ahmed, deputy inspector general (DIG) of Khulna Range, said the house was owned by Abdullah, a human haulier driver who converted to Islam in 2012 from Hinduism and married a Muslim girl later.

“Abdullah lived with his wife in the house but some other people used to visit it.”

According to police, Abdullah's previous name was Provat Kumar. He is the son of one Chaiti Baul of Porahati village.

Police are now looking for Abdullah. 

Last month, CTTC officials busted five hideouts of “Neo JMB” -- two in Chittagong, one in Sylhet and two others in Moulvibazar. Nineteen people, including five children and five women, were killed in those incidents. According to police, 16 of them died in suicidal blasts.