National

Close aide to Bangla Bhai held in Naogaon

Police in a drive arrested a close associate of Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, executed second-in-command of banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh from Panch Pakia village in Atrai upazila on Saturday, reports UNB.The arrestee was identified as Abul Hossain Master, 45, second-in-command of Bangla Bhai and son of Rostom Ali of Panch Pakia village in the upazila.Tipped off, a team of police led by Abdullah Al Masud Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Atrai Police Station, raided the house of Abul Hossain and arrested him in the morning.Abul Hossain is a listed criminal and wanted in five cases filed with Atrai Police Station, said the OC. During primary interrogation, Abul Hossain confessed that he had taken part in several criminal activities with Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai as his second-in-command in 2004, said police.Abul Hossain Master secured bail from the court in separate cases and is now working for forming another militant outfit, said Kanailal Sarkar, assistant superintendent of police, Naogaon.JMB chief Abdur Rahman, its operations commander Bangla Bhai and four other top leaders were executed in 2007 for killing two judges in Jhalakathi in a suicide bomb attack on November 14, 2005.