BENGALURU: The arrest of three key operatives of the banned terrorist organisation - Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh (JMB) in the last one year by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has exposed the underground terror module in the city.
JMB had regrouped and formed a new sleeper cell - JMB, Bengaluru. “Bengaluru was their next Burdwan,” top official sources on condition of anonymity told The New Indian Express.
The official said that the three JMB members - Najir Sheikh alias Patla Anas, Habib-ur-Rehman and Jahidul Islam alias Kausar alias Aijul Mondal - were on the run since the Burdwan blast in 2014 and had escaped to Bengaluru, where they were regrouping themselves.
“Kausar is the head of JMB, India, and is the alleged mastermind behind the Bodh Gaya blast in 2013. He had masked his identity and was working as a petty salesman in Ramanagara till he was arrested last August. He had travelled to Pune, Pakkur in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu to recruit and radicalise more youths to expand their network. Habib, who was arrested from Doddaballapur this June, was raising funds for the sleeper cell by indulging in dacoity and other crimes. Najir was heading the Bengaluru module. He was arrested from Agartala on August 26,” an officer said.
What is strange is that the local police failed to unearth the terror conspiracy and identify the militants. “It is difficult to keep a watch on people. Thousands of migrants come to the city every day. There are Bangladeshis, who carry Aadhaar cards with them. Unless there is some alert from the police or some look out notice, it is not possible to keep a track on the migrant population,” a Karnataka police officer said.
In the absence of any surveillance, the JMB, Bengaluru module, had regrouped itself in the last five years.
In June, the NIA recovered two improvised explosive devices from a canal near the Ramanagara railway track.
On July 7, the NIA busted their explosives unit and seized three circuits of improvised explosive devices, timers, five improvised hand grenades, grenade caps, one timer device, two rocket bends, one jacket, one 9mm pistol with live rounds, one air gun, suspected explosive powders and various other incriminating materials used in fabrication of hand grenades from a house in Chikkabanavara, Soladevanahalli in Bengaluru North, which was allegedly rented by JMB members - Kausar, Nazrul Islam alias Mota Anas, Asif Ikbal, Arif alias Rafikul Mia and others.
“These men were actively involved in raising funds by committing dacoities in Bengaluru and had established their hideouts at various places in the city. They had made preparations to carry out subversive activities by procuring material for making IEDs,” the NIA officer added.
The outreach of JMB, Bengaluru module, is such that their accomplice - Taufeeq Raza alias Ejaz Ahmad from Buniyadur in Gaya district of Bihar was caught while planning to secure the escape of Kausar. On August 26, he was arrested by the special task force of Kolkata police.