RAJSHAHI: A suspected regional leader of the banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was arrested in Ashulia of Savar on the outskirts of the capital early Saturday.

Police said arrested Abul Hossain alias Abul Member was a close associate of Bangla Bhai, the executed second-in-command of JMB who had set up his vigilante brigade headquarters in the district’s backwoods Bagmara upazila.

He was produced before a Rajshahi court in the afternoon. Later, he was sent to jail on court order.

Bagmara thana OC Harun-ur-Rashid said that, on secret information, police arrested Abul from Ashulia in the early hours of the day.

“Abul Hossain is a listed regional leader of JMB. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in a repression and extortion case. He was also wanted in Monwar Hossain Babu killing case,” the OC said.

Abul Hossain had joined the JMB in 2004 and allegedly participated in the vigilante mission of killing and repression with his other party-men trying to establish Islamic sharia rule eliminating sarbahara leftists.

He remained absconding since the arrest of Bangla Bhai from Mymensingh district in 2006 and has tried to reorganize the outfit since the execution of its six top leaders, including its chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and second-in-command Bangla Bhai.

BDST: 1630 HRS, 17 JULY 2010