A close aide of Bangladesh cafe attack mastermind Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, who is also member of a banned Islamist militant outfit, was arrested by a counter-terrorism unit in Dhaka.
Salauddin Kamran, 30, a member of the Neo-Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), was arrested on Wednesday and during investigation, he told police that he was close to Abu Hakim, a militant killed in the Kallyanpur raid on July 25, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman said.
Kamran said he came to Dhaka in May, after joining the militant group, and was trained in Paikpara area by now- detained militant suspect Rakibul Hasan Regan.
Kamran was also close to killed militant Tamim Chowdhury and other top ranks of the New-JMB, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
According to police, Kamran told them that he had been working on to spread the ideology of JMB and gave momentum to its activities. He also confessed to planning and carrying out subversive activities in the country.
Police had named Tamim, a Canadian-Bangladeshi who led the ‘Neo-JMB’, as the one who orchestrated the July 1 attack on the upscale Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone in which 22 people, including an Indian girl, were killed.
Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the cafe attack. But police believe that New-JMB, which is close to the ISIS, was involved in organising the attack.
