The Bomb Disposal Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday deactivated the bombs recovered from a house in the city’s Mohammadpur area Friday night. Earlier that night, Detective Branch of DMP unearthed a bomb making factory at a rented house inside Nobodoy Housing area under Mohammadpur Police Station. DB seized a large number of bombs and related materials in the overnight drive. Additional Deputy Police Commissioner Sanowar Hossain, chief of DMP’s Bomb Disposal Unit, said, “We started our bomb disposal operation after 2 am. By 4:30 am, we had deactivated one medium weight (over 3 kilograms) bomb and one small bomb.” Among the seized bombs, there were four to five large ones of over five kilograms each, the ADC said, adding that if these had went off, the adjacent buildings could have been damaged. “For this reason, we decided to deactivate the powerful bombs in an open space to avoid any damages,” he added.
DMP’s Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam, Deputy Police Commissioner (DB-South) Mashrukur Rahman Khalid, DC (Tejgaon Division) Biplop Kumar Sarker and other senior officials were also present on the occasion. Talking to the Press, Monirul informed that police were told of the location by two arrested militants Kamal alias Shahin and Shah Alam alias Salauddin, who disclosed that while their headquarters was at Badda, they were making bombs in the city’s Mohammadpur area. Then DB started a massive raid in the area around 10 pm (Friday), but the raid continued till 2:30am and was halted then due to insufficient lighting. The operation again resumed yesterday morning.
About the bombs, he said these were totally different from any other seized earlier. “These are very powerful and of five types,” he said, adding that they were probably manufactured according to the formula of banned militant outfit Ansar Ullah Bangla Team (ABT). On disconnection of electricity in Nobodoy Housing for hours, he explained it had been done due to the raid. According to DB officials, although police did not arrest any new militant, several others, including house-owner Maolona Abdul Maleq, were detained. The militants were making bombs in a flat located on the fifth floor of the six-storied building, he said after an inspection of the flat. Police also found huge amounts of bomb making materials in the room, even lying on the beds. There were some stickers proclaiming ‘Danger’ on the wall of the room. Police detained 12 staff of an illegal VoIP syndicate from the adjacent flat in another unit on the same floor.