Police today arrested 13 leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami including former lawmakers Mia Golam Parwar and Mujibur Rahman from Dhaka’s Pallabi and seized 20 crude bombs “from their possession”.

The arrests and bomb recovery were made during a drive conducted on a tip-off, Dadon Fakir, officer-in-charge of Pallabi Police Station told The Daily Star.

“These are powerful handmade bombs,” he said.

According to Fakir, the detainees were planning to carry out subversive activities.

The drive was carried out around 3:30pm “when the Jamaat leaders were holding a secret meeting” at a house in Mirpur-11.         

Meanwhile in a press statement, Jamaat-e-Islami acting Ameer Makbul Ahmad condemned the arrest the party’s central nayeb-e-ameer Mujibur Rahman and its joint secretary general Mia Golam Parwar.

“It is unjustified,” he added.   

Protesting the arrests and demanding their immediate release, the party will stage demonstration across the country tomorrow, the press statement read.