Neo-JMB's 'Bomaru Mamun', released from prison 2yrs ago, behind recent bomb scares: Police
Police records indicate that Mamun was first arrested nine years ago at the age of 21 on charges of bomb making, having reportedly learned the skill from a Neo-JMB member named Abdullah in Mirpur
Police are hunting for Nazmul Hasan Mamun, alias "Bomaru Mamun," identifying the Neo-JMB operative as the key mastermind behind a series of recent bomb explosions and recoveries across the capital and its surrounding areas after he came out on bail in September 2024, following the July Uprising.
According to officials from the police's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, the investigation into the recent incidents gained significant momentum following the arrest of Mamun's associate, Arif, on Tuesday evening (11 August).
After Arif's arrest, police conducted an overnight raid from that evening until 1:45am at his hideout in Shyampur, Savar, recovering 13 pipe bombs and various bomb-making chemicals.
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'Bomaru Mamun' behind every bomb scare
Investigators said information obtained during Arif's interrogation further confirmed Mamun's direct involvement in the recent series of bomb scares.
Amid the ongoing drive to capture Mamun, police recovered another "pressure cooker bomb" yesterday morning (12 August) inside a blue drum in a field near the Laltek Ghora Mosque in Goperbari, Savar.
Briefing reporters about the operations, CTTC chief DMP Additional Police Commissioner Mohammad Shamsul Haque said the unit began identifying the masterminds immediately after bombs and bomb-like objects were recovered from various locations, adding that information regarding Mamun's involvement was obtained following Arif's arrest and that all-out efforts are underway to arrest Mamun.
Investigating officers revealed that Mamun and Arif have been linked to multiple incidents occurring between December and July this year in Keraniganj, Jatrabari, Cumilla, Sayedabad, Motijheel, and Ashulia.
Investigators are looking for a connection between the recent events involving the recovery of a large number of bombs and bomb-making chemicals from Arif's hideout, as there was the recovery of another "pressure cooker bomb" the very next day of his capture.
The sequence began in December with an explosion during bomb-making at a madrasah in Keraniganj.
In February, a suspect stabbed a police officer and fled, leaving a bag full of bombs during a police search in Jatrabari.
This was followed in March by an explosion at a Shiva temple in Cumilla and another blast during a police search in Sayedabad.
Most recently in July, a "pipe bomb" hidden inside an umbrella was left under the Motijheel Metrorail Station along the route of the Hindu community's "Ulto Rath Yatra," while a "pressure cooker bomb" was left at a tea stall in Charabag, Ashulia.
Hotel Olio suicide blast
Police records indicate that Mamun, who was born in Barishal in 1997 and studied at a college in Dhaka's Uttara, was first arrested nine years ago at the age of 21 on charges of bomb making, having reportedly learned the skill from a Neo-JMB member named Abdullah in Mirpur.
He was previously accused of making the bomb used in the 2017 Hotel Olio suicide blast in Panthapath, which killed a youth named Saiful Islam.
Exploiting the political transition after the uprising, Mamun secured bail in September 2024.
Although a Dhaka court acquitted all accused in the Hotel Olio case in January, observing them to be political activists opposed to the fallen Awami League regime, his name has resurfaced as the main suspect behind the recent wave of explosives recovered across the capital.
