Investigation agencies are still clueless about the location of the three Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) activists who were snatched reportedly by their fellows on this day last year from Trishal in Bangladesh.

Criminal Investigation Department officials have confirmed that the activists had left the country, but they are not sure whether they had fled to neighbouring countries or hid in another place.

Investigators are suspecting that two of the activists are now in India as the JMB have some hold in the neighbouring country, but is still not confirmed about the location.

On 23 February last year, JMB activists reportedly carried out an ambush operation on a prison van at Trishal in Mymensingh, around 100 kilometres away from the capital, Dhaka, and snatched away three militants from the police.

The Islamists were taken to Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur from Dhaka. A police constable was killed in the sudden attack.

The three militants are Salahuddin alias Salehin alias Sajeeb, Zahidul Islam alias ‘Boma’ Mizan and Rakib Hasan alias Hafez Mahmud.

Among the three, Rakib Hasan was re-arrested by the police from Mirzapore in Tangail within less than 19 hours of the escape, but killed in a reported gunfight with the police. The rest two members managed to keep themselves out of the custody.

Following the incident, top law enforcing officials formed a probe committee that have identified faulty arrangement of law enforcers as the prime reason behind such attack.

Earlier, the Detective Branch Mymensingh, Rapid Action Battalion, and DB Dhaka has conducted investigation into the issues, but it last October, the case was handed over to the organised crime unit of Criminal Investigating Department (CID) in Dhaka.

While contacted, superintendent of police of organised crime unit of CID Mirza Abdullahel Baqui said at least 10 to 15 people took part in the ambush attack.

‘We now have eight people in custody, however, only three of them were found directly involved with the ambush attack. We have interrogated three arrestees for four days by taking them into police custody in the first week of the current month and got some information,’ he said.

Asked about the current location of the two militants — Mizan and Salehin, the CID official said, ‘The attack was carried out by the JMB members from India and Bangladesh. We are quite sure that they are not in the land of Bangladesh, but we do not have any clue about where they really are. We are trying to locate them.’

When asked about whether the duo took shelter in India, he said that India and Bangladesh now have a mutual cooperation deal.

‘If we can identify their location, we can write letter to Indian police seeking information about their details. As we do not have any clue yet, we cannot seek assistance from them,’ he said.

Meanwhile the CID official said that they had been working to give three separate charge sheets soon as there were three types of crime — snatching away convicted criminals, use of lethal weapon and killing of a policeman.