Pally News Desk:
The police arrested a man named Abdus Sattar in Rajshahi on charges of involvement in militant activities, whom the law enforcement forces say is the second-in-command of the banned militant organization Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh-JMB.
According to the police, Sattar was arrested from his house in Sankoa village of Mariya Union in Bagmara on Tuesday morning. He was known as a confidant of executed JMB leader Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai. There are several allegations of militant affiliation against him.
According to locals, Abdus Sattar was active with JMB top leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai around 2004. He was directly involved in the torture of locals in Bagmara. Several people died in the torture.
According to police, JMB members tortured and killed 10 to 15 people in Bagmara around 2004. At that time Abdus Sattar used to participate in every campaign of JMB. Bangla Bhai and Sheikh Abdur Rahman were caught, but Sattar escaped. Even though a case was filed against the accomplices, he was not charged.
After the top leaders of the militant outfit were arrested, Satta went into hiding for a while but later returned home. Although there is no case of militancy against Sattar, Bagmara police station has five cases of extortion against him.
Inspector (Investigation) of Bagmara Police Station Abul Kalam Azad said that JMB member Abdus Sattar was sent to jail by the court on Tuesday afternoon. The JMB, which started its journey in early 2003, has been hanged, including two top leaders, and their hideouts have been caught, but the militant outfit has recently come back into the news. The police claimed that the JMB was involved in the attack on the elite restaurant Holy Artisan in Gulshan and the killing of 20 people, including 17 foreigners. After this incident, the JMBE was also involved in an attempt to attack the Eid congregation at Sholakia in Kishoreganj, the police said. The army says that the militant organization has become active again and is trying to sabotage the country. And the police has intensified the operation against the militants.
In mid-2003, the militant organization Jagrat Muslim Janata Bangladesh or JMJB started working under the leadership of Shura Committee chief Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai on the advice of JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman. Later they came to be known as JMB. In 2004, the workers of the organization became reckless in Bagmara in Rajshahi and Atrai-Raninagar in Naogaon.
On May 20, 2004, Bangla Bhai and his associates killed Idris Ali alias Khejur Ali and Abdul Qayyum Badsha in Raninagar. The body of the king was hanged upside down on a tree and the body was cut into pieces and buried. JMB's name became known across the country when the picture of the dead body hanging from the tree was published. On August 17, 2005, the organization showed its strength by simultaneously exploding bombs in 63 districts.
On March 6, 2006, RAB arrested Bangla Bhai from Muktagachha in Mymensingh. Shaikh Rahman was arrested in Sylhet four days before. These two top militant leaders were hanged on March 30, 2007 for killing Jhalkathi judges Sohail Ahmed and Jagannath Pare by bombing their car.
