Counter Terrorism unit of Bangladesh Police seized 11 pipe bombs, gunpowder, cyanide and bomb-making materials in an overnight raid on a hideout of the banned militant group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh in Savar, and arrested one active member.

The CTTC unit and local police raided a three-storey building in the Shyampur area of Savar’s Tetuljhora union early Wednesday. The building’s ground floor room had been rented on August 2 by a man identified as Arif, who was taken into custody during the operation.

The CTTC said Arif was an active JMB member. Eleven pipe bombs recovered from the building were neutralised by explosion.

The CTTC said a man known as “Bomaru Mamun”, who is described as a JMB bomb-making craftsman, visited the hideout and was initially believed to have supervised the bomb-making process. He is suspected of being the main perpetrator in the incident. Police are trying to arrest him.

Police found six powerful pipe bombs and various chemicals concealed in a bag carried by Arif. A further search of the building yielded five more pipe bombs, gunpowder, cyanide and other bomb-making equipment. Officers also seized a large number of JMB organisational leaflets.

Arif had presented himself to the landlord as a driver who planned to live in the flat with his family and teach at a nearby school, according to the building owner’s daughter, Ilma. “We had no idea he was hiding all this inside,” she said.

Savar Model police station’s Officer-in-Charge Saiful Alam said the entire area was cordoned off and the recovered bombs were neutralised.

CTTC Joint Commissioner Munshi Shahabuddin said the raid was conducted on the basis of intelligence information after two suspects were identified during investigations into bomb recoveries in Motijheel and Ashulia. He said the CTTC would hold a news conference at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police media centre at noon on Wednesday to disclose further details.