Police yesterday arrested four men and claimed that they had supplied arms for the Holey Artisan Bakery terror attack on July 1 that left at least 21 people, mostly foreigners, dead. They were also placed on 3-day remand. The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) nabbed the four from Darussalam area of the capital Wednesday night, said a DMP news release.
Police have identified the alleged arms suppliers as Md Abu Taher, 37, Mizanur Rahman, 34, Md Selim Miah, 45 and Toufiqul Islam Alias Dr Toufiq, 32.
All four were said to be active members of the banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and allegedly supplied arms and explosives-making materials for the Gulshan attack, according to the release. The police also recovered handmade grenade-making materials, 787 detonators and nine foreign pistols from their possessions. Mizanur Rahman, alias Chhoto Mizan, alias Tara had collected the raw materials for manufacturing grenades and other arms, including handguns (pistol), through Chapainawabganj and delivered the components to Tamim Chowdhury and Marzan, the masterminds of the attack. The arms and bomb-making materials were used in the Gulshan attack. Both Tamim and Marzan had been killed in a police action, police learnt from primary investigations. The arrested people used to smuggle in detonators, explosive gel and arms from India to Bangladesh to supply the Neo-JMB with grenades, said the law enforcers.
Of the arrestees, Mizanur Rahman, alias Boro Mizan, and Mizanur Rahman, alias Choto Mizan, were the main collaborators of the smuggling group, said the DMP release.
The police suspect they had come to Dhaka with the detonators and arms at the directive of JMB’s new leadership to carry out subversive acts in the city. In militant attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery, 20 hostages were brutally murdered during the siege before commandos stormed the popular hangout in the city.
Thirteen hostages were rescued while six of the gunmen, who attacked the restaurant on Road 79, were killed in the 50-minute army-led joint forces operation codenamed “Operation Thunderbolt”. During the hostage crisis, the first such incident in the country, two police officers were killed and dozens injured when law enforcers tried to close the restaurant. The US-based SITE Intelligence Group said Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq news agency.