Extra double quotes are getting added when using jmeter variable to pass value in GraphQL HTTP request ‘Variable’ in Jmeter

I want to send below request in GraphQL HTTP request in Jmeter –

{"pageName":"TEST_SCREEN","section":"TEST_SCREEN","action":{"name":"includeObjects","fields":[{"fieldName":"id_","value":"101"},{"fieldName":"id_","value":"102"},{"fieldName":"id_","value":"103"}]}}

I am generating the value of "fields" dynamically and it can have any number of entries. So I generated value for fields and stored in a variable beforehand like below-

String request = "[";
for (int i = 0 ;i<items.length;i++) {
    if (!"[".equals(request)) {
        request +=",";
    }   
    request += "{"fieldName":"id_","value":""+items[i]+""}";
}
request += "]";
vars.put("ITEMS_ID_REQUEST",request);

Then in the graphQL Sample, under Variables I gave like this-

{"pageName":"NEW_PAGE","section":"NEW_FILTER_PAGE","action":{"name":"includeAction","fields":"${ITEMS_ID_REQUEST}"}}

JMeter is sending below reuest-

{"pageName":"TEST_SCREEN","section":"TEST_SCREEN","action":{"name":"includeObjects","fields":"[{"fieldName":"id_","value":"54794"},{"fieldName":"id_","value":"54795"},{"fieldName":"id_","value":"54796"},{"fieldName":"id_","value":"54797"},{"fieldName":"id_","value":"54798"}]"}}

And my sample is failing. I notice that value of the fields which should be [{..}] is now enclosed in a double quotes which is messing up the json request. I know we have to enclose JMeter variable in double quotes so removing them didn’t work so I tried to escape double quotes but that also isn’t working.
How can I replace the desired value correctly without double quotes?
Thanks in advance!