BHOPAL: The Bangladesh-based proscribed terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) which carried out brutal attacks in 50 cities and towns of its native Bangladesh in 2005, now possibly has operatives/sleeper cells in 8-10 Indian states, claims Madhya Pradesh police's anti-terror squad (ATS).
A sustained probe by ATS after the busting of an alleged sleeper cell/remote module of the JMB on March 13, has brought to the fore possibility of the Bangladesh terror outfit having its presence in 8-10 states in India.
Besides, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal from where six arrests have so far been made by the MP police and West Bengal police, the presence of JMB operatives their associates and sympathizers could not be ruled out in west UP, Gujarat, Assam and adjoining North-Eastern states, besides Jharkhand and Karnataka, police claim.
"These arrests seem just a tip of the iceberg. The further probe could throw more light on the presence of JMB operatives/sympathizers in other states. We will soon coordinate with cops in other states and send teams to those states to dig deeper into the JMB's Indian apparatus," a senior MP police official told The New Indian Express on Wednesday.
The six men who have been arrested so far, include four Bangladeshi men who were tracked and nabbed following March 12-13 intervening night's swoop by MP ATS teams at a rented house in Bhopal's Aishbhagh area. Two more men linked to them, including Rafique and Shahwan Khan, were arrested later from Howrah (West Bengal) and Bhopal's Karond area respectively.
The Bangladeshi quartet arrested from Bhopal on March 12-13 night is presently in MP ATS' custody till March 28.
Ongoing questioning of the arrested Bangladeshi men has revealed that the extremist religious literature being used by them to radicalize and brainwash youngsters in MP was possibly sourced from someone in Gujarat.
Further, they were also using e-books through specific apps for rendering most high-end extremist and subversive literature to youths who had been partially or fully brainwashed through their primary religious modules.
These ebooks downloaded through some apps were being transferred to youths, who were also being trained to delete them in case of being tracked or caught by cops.
In the coming days, the MP police are likely to make major disclosure about the JMB's module busted in MP, the terror outfit's India specific plans and those controlling the Indian JMB operations.