In a major breakthrough post the Uri terror attack, the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police on Monday arrested six terrorists wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who were planning subversive activities in South India and the North-East. Out of the six terrorists, five have been named by the NIA as prime suspects in the October 2014 Khagragarh blast in Burdwan district.
It was the blast in a house in Burdwan district that eventually blew the lid off a conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan-backed Bangladeshi terror outfit Jamaat-Ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
“Five terrorists of the six arrested by us were involved in the Khagragarh case and were missing since then” said a senior police officer.
“These people had fled the State after the Khagragarh blast and moved to South India and the North-East,” said Vishal Garg Joint CP, Crime, adding they were planning subversive activities in South India and the North-East. While three of them are Indians the remaining three are Bangladeshis. The Indians have been identified as Moulana Yusuf, Shahdul Islam and Abul Kalam, whereas the names of the Bangladeshi terrorists are Anwar Hussein, Mohammad Rubel and Zaibrul Islam, police said.
Police said forged identification papers, a huge quantity of explosives, detonators, mobile phones, laptops, wire cutters batteries, Bangladeshi and Indian currencies, some letters, a travel guide, books on chemicals and camera memory cards were seized from them.
The arrests not only assume significance on account of them taking place post the recent Uri attack but also on account of the fact that the STF has finally managed to nab at least three masterminds of the Burdwan episode.
The police said all of them were not arrested from one place. “While one was arrested from Assam, others were arrested from Cooch Behar in North Bengal and Basirhat and Bangaon off Kolkata in South Bengal,” Garg said.
On whether the arrests had any link with the Uri attacks or alleged reports of some Pakistani terrorists roaming in other parts of the country, Garg said the police were trying to find the details.
On October 2, 2014, two terrorists were killed when the bombs they were making at a house at Khagragarh in Burdwan district went off by chance bringing the NIA to the scene. Intensive investigations revealed that JMB terrorists were hatching plans in India to exterminate VIPs
in Bangladesh for which they had not only set up the bomb making units but also organized recruitment and training camps that worked behind the veneer of a madrasah.
Incidentally, Moulana Yusuf the deputy chief of JMB in West Bengal was entrusted with recruiting, indoctrinating and training moles before sending them off to “action areas.” He carried a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head.
Of the other arrested terrorists Anwar Hussein is said to be the chief patron of JMB in Bengal. He hails from Burdwan. Sahidul and Abul Kalam, an IED expert who carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head, are from Assam.
Rubel a Bangladeshi is also an IED expert and carried a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on his head.