6 top JMB terrorists held; 5 linked to Burdwan blasts

KOLKATA: Just 10 days before Durga Puja, Kolkata Police’s special task force (STF) on Monday claimed a major breakthrough in its anti-terror operations, with the arrest of six operatives of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), including the second-in-command of the outfit’s India unit and the chiefs for Bengal and north-east.
Five of the arrested were involved in the Khagragarh blast that came in the middle of Durga Puja, on October 2, two years ago.
The STF claimed the arrests in Bengal and Assam came in the nick of time as the module was planning major strikes in both these states during the Durga Puja festivities and south India.
Sleuths from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are already in Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters, to question the six men and find more leads about possible terror modules embedded elsewhere in the country.
The prize catch include JMB Bengal unit chief Anwar Hussain Farukh alias Inam, JMB north-east unit head Sahidul Islam alias Surya; Bengal chief motivator and no. two in JMB India hierarchy Maulana Yusuf alias Abu Bakkar; IED experts Md Rubel alias Rafiq and Abul Kalam; and Zahidul Islam alias Jabirul Islam who acted as the key linkman between JMB and northeastern terror groups and ran a fake currency racket. Zahidul is also suspected to have links with the Islamic State (IS). IS operative Md Musa, who was arrested by the CID this July, had the same handler as Zahidul — Md Suleiman, a key JMB and IS operative in Bangladesh.
Police in Bangladesh have also cases registered against at least two of those arrested by the STF. Sources said their role in the terror strike at Holey Bakery cafe in Dhaka’s posh Gulshan area is being investigated. “Inam and Yousuf were in Bangladesh around the time of the Gulshan attack,” said a top STF official. Bangladesh authorities had earlier conveyed their suspicion that both money and arms for the cafe attack were routed through India.