Neo JMB had plans to attack police after Eid: CTTC

Militant outfit Neo JMB (Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh) had plans to attack police officers using homemade bombs after the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha, security officials said on Monday.

The information was disclosed following the arrest of Major Osama alias Nayeem, a suspected member of the military wing of Neo JMB, from Narayanganj on Sunday.

Osama was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Bangladesh police from the Kazipara area at Madanpur port, according to security officials.

CTTC conducted a raid in his house later that night and seized three bombs, four remote controls, bomb-making materials and a large number of jihadi books, said Md Asaduzzaman, chief of the special police unit.

He said, "We learnt that they [Neo JMB] wanted to attack on police after Eid-ul Azha."

Members of a bomb disposal unit defused the bombs at the spot.

According to police officials, Osama, an Imam of a local mosque at Kazipara, used to communicate with other Neo JMB members using online platforms. He trained them to make bombs through the platforms.

Moreover, he regularly communicated with Mahdi Hassan, Amir of the militant group.

Police learned about Major Osama from three recently arrested members of Neo JMB from Mirpur.

'We got information about Major Osama from them,' disclosed Asaduzzaman.

'We arrested Osama near his house on Sunday evening and later raided his house at night,' he said.

However, the family of the arrested were not at the house during the raid.

'The house was being used as a den of extremists to make bombs. The bomb, found near a police box in Narayanganj's Siddhirganj on 17 May, was made at the house,' CTTC additional deputy commissioner Ahmedul Islam said on Sunday.