With inputs from their West Bengal counterparts, sleuths of Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) managed to net two terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) members from Gautam BudhNagar (Noida) early Tuesday morning.
The ATS briefed the WB Police about the development and will now take both on transit remand. Sleuths of Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as ATS members were grilling the accused to extract information about their activities. Both were also wanted by Bangladesh police and had slipped to India after the local police there upped the ante.
As per reports, the ATS got inputs from West Bengal police about two wanted ultras identified as Bangaldeshi mationals Musharraf aka Musa and Rubel Ahmed taking shelter in Surajpur area of Noida. Soon a team, was formed and the ATS team dropped the neton the two in an early morning swoop in Noida.
Senior ATS officials claimed that they were still grilling to confirm about their local operations. However, they confirmed that both were active members of JMB.
The Intelligence department had received a tip-off that some JMB members were collecting funds in the NCR for their outfit, a source said.
Founded in 1998 by Sheikh Abdur Rahman, the JMB was banned in 2005 for setting off about 500 bombs simultaneously across Bangladesh. Three Bangladeshi youths, suspected to have links with Islamic extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) were arrested in lucknow in September last year by the UP ATS. Mohammad Imran, Rajiuddin and Mohammad Firdaus, all siblings, were caught while boarding Howrah-Amritsar Express train.
During quizing , they confessed that they were Bangladeshis and fake Aadhaar cards were found from their possession. The names of the three surfaced after an ATS team arrested Bangladeshi terror suspect Abdullah, associated with the ABT from Charthawal area of Muzaffarnagar.
During quizzing, he coughed up names of some aides and Deoband madarsas were probed for his links. Abdullah resided in Deoband area of Saharanpur since 2011 and also got his Aadhaar card and passport using fake identity.
It was found that three persons — a madarsa teacher and his two brothers — were missing after which the ATS team arrested them.
ATS officials said Abdullah was associated with the ABT and was involved in preparing fake identity proofs of ultras, especially from Bangladesh, with the help of Faizan of Deoband (Saharanpur).
Based on this input, Faizan’s house was searched in Deoband. While he was not found, jihadi literature in Bangla, literature for preparation of bombs, colour printer and a number of fake IDs were recovered.
The ABT, also called Ansar Bangla, was implicated in crimes, including some brutal murders of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh. The ABT is inspired by al-Qaeda .