Akayed charged with supporting terrorism in US
Attacker warned on Facebook;
His wife, 2 others held in Dhaka
STAFF REPORTER
Akayed Ullah, the man who allegedly blew up his homemade explosive in a pedestrian subway tunnel in the heart of the Midtown Manhattan, has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism and making a terroristic threat, the New York Police Department announced yesterday. Akayed had posted a warning to President Donald trump just before the attack, said police. Trump you failed to protect your nation, it read. The post by Akayed Ullah was revealed in charges filed by federal prosecutors yesterday. They say the 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant carried out the bombing in support of the Islamic State group.
Investigators are piecing together what led up to the attack in which authorities say Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man, detonated his device during the busy morning commute, according to the CNN.
Bangladesh Police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque told a news agency on Monday that Akayed had no criminal record in the country. Akayed Ullah lived with his mother, sister and two brothers in Brooklyn and was a green card holder, said Shameem Ahsan, consul general of Bangladesh in New York.
Senior counter terrorism police officer Sanwar Hossain also told AFP that they were investigating the matter. So far, his name is not on our wide-range list of radicalised persons or members of terror groups, both from Bangladesh and outside, he said.
Meanwhile, the police have identified the family of Akayed living in Bangladesh.
Sources said Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) picked up Akayeds wife Jannatul Ferdous Jui and her parents from a house at Moneswar Road of Jigatala around 3pm yesterday.
A senior police officer preferring anonymity said they detained Akayeds wife, who used to live in Jigatala in the city with their six-month-old son. We are questioning her, he said. Additional Deputy Commissioner of CTTC Mohammed Saiful Islam told reporters that they detained the three to know more about Akayed.
Akayeds father-in-laws name is Julfiqer Haider and mother-in-law is Mahfuza Akter. Akayed became father of a child on June 10. He visited Bangladesh last on September 18, this year, and left for the USA on October 22. Sources said Akayed Ullah hailed from Sandwip in Chittagong and went to New York seven years ago along with his family members.
The Aditional Superintended of Police (headquarters), Md Rezaul Masud, said according to information they have gathered, Akayed, along with his father Sanaullah, left their village of Musapur at Sandwip some 30 years ago and used to live at Sandwip Colony in the Tannery area in Jagatala in the capital.
Later, he along with his parents, three brothers and two sisters went to the USA with the help of his fathers brothers-in-law living there, he said.
Quoting Akayeds cousin Emdadullah, the police officer said Akayed returned to his ancestral home in Sandwip only twice.
He (Akayed) returned home only two times after he went to America. First time he came back two years ago and went to his village home after the death of his father in the USA. Lastly, he came to the country some six months ago, but didnt go to his village home at Musapur, he said.
Akayeds father was buried in the USA. The late Sanaullah had business in the Hazaribagh area and owned a building in Dhaka. Asked by the police, Emdadullah described Akayed as a gentleman and said he (Akayed) used to pray regularly and fast.
He is a gentleman. We cannot believe that he can be involved in extremism, the police boss quoted Emdad as having said.
According to the police, Akayed got married in Jigatala three years ago. His father-in-law is an employee of a shop in the citys Bashundhara shopping mall.
Sources said Akayed Ullah did not have any criminal record in Dhaka.
