Bangladesh News

Police yesterday produced 27 militants, including the 25 arrested during Wednesday’s raid near a Bhaluka madrasa by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and two others nabbed later, before a Mymensingh court under Section 54 without bringing any specific charges.
Police also produced Nuruddin Haider, the landlord and founder of the madrasa — Al-Jamiatul Islamia Nurul Ulum — before the court with seven-day remand prayer under an extortion case, filed on July 28 by an employee of a private TV channel.

Sources said the arrested Afghan war veteran Moulana Mufti Abdur Rouf had been running the militant camp at a madrasa in Jibontola village under Bhaluka upazila for years under the nose of law enforcers and administration although police seized huge militancy-related materials from the den in 2003.

Rab claimed to have arrested 25 militants including Mufti Abdur Rouf during training at Jamia Islamia Nurul Ulum Madrasa at Jibontola village and recovered bomb-making materials and militancy-related equipment at 3:00pm on Wednesday.

Later, Rab-9 arrested Abu Huriara and Shafiq at Seed Store Bazar at Bhaluka at 8:30pm.

The two are the students of the same madrasa and had fled from the spot during the raid, Rab said.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Rabiul Islam of Bhaluka Police Station yesterday produced the arrested militants before the court of First Class Magistrate Rukshana Tarannum.

Receiving the arrestees from Rab office, where the militants had been undergoing interrogation since their arrest, SI Rabiul sought remand for seven people out of the 27.

He prayed for 10-day remand of seven JMB militants — Abdur Rouf, suicide squad members Saiful Islam and Kamruzzaman Kamal, Ehsar (full-time) members Tofazzal Hossain and Mahmudul Hasssan, and activists Huraira and Shafiq.

The court granted 10-day remand for the fist five, seven-day for the last two, and sent the rest 20 to jail. The same court sent Nuruddin to five-day remand.

Asked why no specific allegations were brought against the militants, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mizanur Rahman of Bhaluka Police Station said police will collect more information from them before bringing any specific charge.

Asked what if the High Court (HC) gave any directive not to bring the arrestees under Section 54 in remand, the OC said, “It [HC] only cautioned the law enforcers to be careful, nothing more.”

On why only seven out of the 20 were brought for quizzing, he said, “We have acted following the order of the high-ups only.”

A number of militants earlier got release as they were produced before court under Section 54.