Bangladesh News

Bangladesh-born British citizen and founder of Green Crescent charity and NGO Faisal Mostafa and his associate Hasan Saifuddin Badal were yesterday brought to Dhaka for interrogation by the Task Force Intelligence (TFI) cell.

They were placed on a fresh 10-day remand on Thursday after the first phase remand.

Investigation Officer of the cases SI Rafiqul Islam told The Daily Star that they sent Faisal and Badal from Bhola under strict security yesterday morning.

Sources said Faisal has close links with outlawed Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and had met executed JMB supremo Shaekh Abdur Rahman several times. He kept contact with Saidur Rahman, the absconding chief of the militant organisation.

“With a PhD in chemistry, Faisal has vast knowledge on how to make explosives and bullets. We suspect the JMB cadres might have been taught the skills,” another investigator told The Daily Star asking anonymity.

Investigators said they believe the British chemist, who had faced terror charges twice in the UK, might even have been providing funds and logistic supports for JMB’s regrouping.

Both Faisal and Badal were arrested at Pubail in Gazipur on April 6 following an exclusive discovery of a ‘mini-ammunition factory’ at a madrasa-cum-orphanage in Bhola on March 24.

Rapid Action Battalion seized 10 firearms, 2,500 bullets, 3,000 grenade splinters, 200 grams of gun powder, different components of ammunition and 72 books on jihad, Abul Ala Maududi and Osama bin Laden.