KOLKATA/NEW DELHI/GUWAHATI: Burdwan bombing plot thickens as Simulia Madrasa is revealed as a terror training camp by intelligence sources. Captured suspects spill the beans on Bengal jihadi network which allegedly plotted blasts in Chennai and Patna’s Gandhi Maidan during Narendra Modi’s election campaign meeting last year.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other Central intelligence agencies continue to chase 150 jihadis linked to Bangladesh module as further evidence of the cover-up by the West Bengal Police emerges in the Burdwan accidental bombing case. Pieces of intelligence received from various sources detailing the Simulia Madrasa terror apparatus reveals that suspected terrorist Shakil Ahmed prepared self-motivated modules who have gained expertise in making IEDs and carrying out terror strikes as independent operatives. Shakil was aided by absconding suspects Sheikh Yusuf and Abdul.
“They have trained over 150 jihadis from India as well as Bangladesh. They were recruited to become expendable pawns in the terror operations, Al Qaeda and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were planning to launch,” sources said.
Some locals in Khagragarh, who were aware of suspicious activities of terrorists, are now approaching NIA teams with information. “They admitted of fear from certain powerful persons for not speaking out earlier,” officials added.
In fact, Assam Police which had earlier arrested six persons linked to Burdwan module have launched a massive manhunt to nab at least 30 suspects for their alleged involvement either in the blast case or for their linkages with jihadi elements even as a number of ‘institutions’ and NGOs in the state have now come under the scanner of the investigating agencies.
“We’re looking for at least 30 people in connection with the blast case. They include some who regularly maintained contacts with the (jihadi) elements,” Assam’s Director General of Police Khagen Sarma told The Sunday Standard.
“I won’t say madrasas but a number of institutions and NGOs are under our scanner. We want to get to the bottom of the case,” he said.
Link Between Chennai And Patna Bombings: The NIA has discovered that both Shakil Ahmed Gazi, the JMB terrorist who died in the blast at his home at Khagragarh in Burdwan district while manufacturing explosives, and another prime suspect, Mohammad Qauser, who has fled to Bangladesh, were behind the blast at Chennai railway station on May 1.
The twin blasts in the Bangalore-Guwahati Express at Chennai Central Railway Station was through time bombs and the timers used were similar to that the NIA found in Burdwan. Mobile call records too indicated that several calls had been made by Shakil and Qauser to their contacts in Chennai in April.
The sleuths of the central agency felt that JMB was in league with the Indian Mujahideen (IM), which obtained their help to carry out the blasts in Chennai as well as at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.
In both these places the same timers were used and many such “Sigma” watches have been seized by the NIA when they carried out searches at the home of Shakil and injured JMB terrorist Abdul Hakim at Khagragarh.
After being entrusted to probe into the Burdwan blasts after eight days, the NIA at the outset found that JMB’s terror network was not limited within West Bengal but also had spread to other parts of the country. They had supplied explosives to many other states and Bangladesh.
Footprints From Chennai To Jharkhand: After analysing mobile call records and cracking fake e-mail IDs in a laptop found in the Khagragarh house, the sleuths discovered that Qauser had visited various states in South India.
SIM cards purchased in West Bengal were also used to make calls to their links in various states and even Bangladesh when the duo operated from Chennai just before the blasts.
Shakil’s widow Raziya Bibi, now in NIA custody, admitted before the sleuths that her husband and Qauser had visited Chennai in April and May, a few days before the blasts. The tags found in the time bombs in the train compartments had tags of a manufacturer in West Bengal, which they had taken there, she reportedly told them.
The NIA which has been investigating the Gandhi Maidan blasts also found the same timers and concluded that the terrorists had connection with Shakil and Qauser. The seven bombs which exploded were manufactured in West Bengal. In fact, one of the terrorists Soiful, arrested from Barpeta in Assam, admitted having learnt to make explosives in Jharkhand and Burdwan, and sleeper cells of IM and JMB were active in that state.
They also found links with IM operatives in Karnataka as Raziya admitted about the two terrorists making calls to Abdul Qader Sultan Armar, who hails from Bhatkal in the state but now operates from Waziristan in Pakistan.
Simulia Terror Training Camp: A senior intelligence officer confirmed that Shakil was providing paramilitary and explosives training to new recruits in Simulia and they have already identified some of these jihadis. Although, he refused to reveal the further details citing ongoing operation, the officer disclosed that agencies stumbled upon countrywide network linking Simulia, just an hour’s drive from Burdwan.
“Recruits used to come in batches for the training at Simulia Madrasa. Qader Sheikh, brother-in-law of Shakil, was acting as courier, providing logistics like RDX and raw explosive materials for training,” the officer added.
The Central agencies seized several issues of Inspire magazine, a propaganda publication of Al Qaeda from the suspects’ hideouts in Burdwan. The interrogation of captured Jihadi Hasan Molla revealed that Inspire magazine was an excellent guide for cooking lethal IEDs in the kitchen. Al Qaeda magazines explained that a bomb can be assembled from common items like using cooking gas cylinders and iron nails. The crude device can be set off using a remote detonator.
“Some other jihadi materials seized from Shakil’s relative Qader Sheikh’s house had slogans like ‘Jihad—from Bangladesh to Baghdad’ and materials for self-indoctrination,” sources said.