Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) today claimed arrest of a bigshot leader of the banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Narayanganj.

Arrestee Tariqul Islam Tarek alias Najmus Sakib, 30, is said to be the chief of JMB’s southern unit, our local correspondent reports quoting Rab officials.

Lt Col Quazi Shamsher Uddin, commanding officer of Rab-11, declared the arrest and said he was held from the launch terminal area around 11:00pm last night.

Addressing a press conference today, he said, a cache of books on extremism, flyers, training manual and a machete were found in his possession.

According to Rab, Sakib joined the JMB in 2013. He was acting as the chief of Dawa wing of JMB in the south after his predecessor Abdullah Al Mamun was killed in a gunfight in 2016.

During quizzing, he said he was out to collect arms in a bid to reorganise the group and was trying to open a training camp on a shoal of Jamuna river in Jamalpur.

He stands accused in at least eight cases filed under arms and explosives act.