'JMB's bomb expert' arrested in city

Rapid Action Battalion claimed to have arrested an improvised explosive device (IED) expert of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in the capital's Uttara early yesterday.

Mushfiqur Rahman Jeni, 28, belonged to JMB's “Sarwar-Tamim Group” and was working on producing remote-controlled IEDs, said Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, commanding officer of Rab-10, at a press briefing at Rab media centre in Karwan Bazar. 

Son of a late civil engineer of Comilla's Burichang, Mushfiqur got admitted to computer science and engineering department at Buet in 2005, but did not complete his studies.

It could not be known when and how Mushfiqur got involved in militancy, Rab said.

Rab said they learnt about Mushfiqur from 15 members of the banned militant outfit who were arrested in the city and elsewhere since March 21.

Rab official Jahangir said Mushfiqur admitted that they could remotely detonate IEDs from a distance of around 100 metres.

The 15 JMB men's target was a government establishment near Dhaka Cantonment, Jahangir claimed.    

Replying to a query, the Rab official said they knew that the group had done an experimental remote-controlled IED explosion outside the capital some time ago.

However, Jahangir said they needed further investigation to be sure whether the group had already supplied the IEDs to their accomplices.

Following the arrest of his associates, Mushfiqur went into hiding in Sylhet and Brahmanbaria, said Rab.

On information, a team of Rab-10 arrested him from his house in Sector-12 of Uttara around 8:30am. A good number of equipment and components for making remote-controlled IEDs were also seized, Rab added.  

Responding to a question whether Mushfiqur had any connection with the bomb explosion near “Atia Mahal” during army-led “Operation Twilight” in Sylhet, the Rab official said they would interrogate him about the issue.

Seven people, including Rab's intelligence wing director Lt Col Abul Kalam Azad, were killed in the twin blasts on March 25.

Prof M Sohel Rahman, head of computer science and engineering department at Buet, said Mushfiqur was a '05 batch student of the university and his study was supposed to be complete in 2009 or 2010, but he extended his studentship.