Sabotage plot: Neo-JMB member Arif placed on 6-day remand

A Dhaka court has placed Mohammad Arif, alias Imran, on a six-day remand in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act over allegations of plotting sabotage in Savar, Dhaka.

The court of Dhaka Chief Senior Judicial Magistrate Tajul Islam Sohag granted the remand following a petition filed by the police on Thursday (August 13).

SI Bahaj Uddin, an official from the state prosecution department, confirmed the matter.

Earlier, Sub-Inspector Nure Mohammad of Savar Police Station, who is also the investigating officer of the case, produced the accused in court and petitioned for a 10-day remand. After the hearing, during which no defense lawyer represented the accused, the court approved a six-day remand.

According to the police remand application, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit was conducting an operation in the Gabtoli bus terminal area of Dhaka on the afternoon of August 11 based on confidential information. Intelligence reports had indicated that members of a banned organization were staying in Savar's tannery industrial area with explosive materials for subversive activities.

Utilizing information technology to trace their location, police conducted a drive near the flood-control embankment adjacent to the western wall of the BSCIC Industrial Tannery Estate in Savar. Officers spotted several individuals acting suspiciously and approached them, prompting the others to flee while Arif alias Imran was apprehended at the scene around 6:50pm.

Police claimed that searching Arif’s person and his carrying bag yielded bomb-making equipment, steel pipes for making pipe bombs, a machete, switchblade knives, batteries, and a mobile phone. For safety reasons, one explosive-like object was neutralized on the spot.

The investigating officer's petition further stated that subsequent information provided by Arif led to a raid on his rented home in the Dakhshin Shyampur area of Savar. Police claimed to have recovered various liquid chemicals and chemical powders, potassium nitrate, gunpowder-infused cotton swabs, electric wires, detonators, remote control devices, remnants of pipe bombs, and other materials from the residence.

Several jihadist books were also recovered during the operation, according to the remand application.

Police claimed that during questioning, Arif identified himself as an active member of the banned militant outfit Neo-JMB. They also stated that he provided names, addresses, and details regarding the involvement of several other individuals linked to the group.

The investigating officer informed the court that intensive interrogation of Arif is necessary to identify the masterminds, financiers, advisors, and instigators behind the incident, track down fugitives, and identify other unidentified accomplices.