Three financers of the Dhaka Massacre identified

One of the men ran fled to Syria for more than a year with his whole family. The other two killed in clashes with counter-terrorism squads. 233 thousand euro in funds handed over to bankroll the attack.

 

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has identified three prominent leaders of the new Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB New) who financed the massacre of foreigners carried out by Islamic militants at the Holey Artisan Bakery Café  in the capital .

The three men, two of whom died in recent clashes with anti-terrorism forces, have poured the equivalent of over 233 thousand euro (20 million taka) into the coffers of the local extremist group.

The news was released yesterday by Monirul Islam, head of the anti-terrorism and transnational crimes unit. The three financers are: Dr. Rokon Uddin, Tanveer Quaderi and former army officer Zahidul Islam known as Murad.

The head of counterterrorism revealed that Dr. Rokon donated 8 million taka (more than 96 thousand euro). The man has fled to Syria with his entire family at least a year ago, and probably joined the militants of the Caliphate. He is a former archivist of Bangladesh Children's Hospital and lived in Khilgaon. His wife Naima Akther was a botany teacher at MM College in Jessore.

Of the two other funders, Zahid Islamic donated his pension to the organization, while Tanveer Quaderi gave the proceeds of the sale of his apartment in Uttara, 10 million taka (more than 116 thousand euro). Both died in the police blitz.

In July 1 last a group of terrorists stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe in Dhaka, and killed 20 foreigners. This has sparked a massive manhunt and Bangladeshi authorities are pursuing the masterminds behind the attack.

The security forces say that besides the money of the three local men, they are continuing to look for traces of funds from abroad, often disguised in the form of donations to non-governmental organizations. Monirul said that "weapons and money used for the Gulshan attack come from abroad. We found that some Bangladeshi citizens, who now do not live at home, have sent 1.4 million taka (over 16 thousand euro) ".

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