6 top JuMB militants arrested

Ultras planned strikes in south India, say police

The Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police arrested six top operatives of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JuMB) from different parts of West Bengal and Assam on Monday. Officials claimed that five of those arrested had direct links with the October 2014 blast at Khagragarh in Burdwan.

According to top officials, these men had plans to run terror operations across the Northeast as well as south India from their hideouts in Bengal and Assam. The arrested include Anwar Hussain Farooq, who also went by aliases Inam and Kalubhai.
A native of Jamalpur in Bangladesh, Farooq was believed to be JuMB’s regional commander and a key player in the outfit’s India operations. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on Farooq.

Md Rafique alias Rubel, also from Jamalpur, is an explosives expert and had illegally entered India several years ago, along with Farooq. Rubel carried a bounty of Rs 3 lakh on him, as did Maulana Yusuf, who also went by Bakkar and Abu Khetab. The NIA named him a prime accused in the case after it became known that he ran the Shimulia madrasa close to the blast site and was instrumental in recruiting and training young operatives.

Officials said that the STF stumbled upon leads that led to the arrest of these men, absconding since the 2014 blast, during an operation to crack a fake currency racket at Assam’s Cachar. While STF officials apprehended Jabirul Islam during the raid, they came to realise that he is none other than Jahidul Islam, also a prime accused in the Khagragarh case. On Sunday, STF arrested Abul Kalam alias Abdul Kalam, another prime accused, when he was en route to Kolkata from Dhubri in Assam.

Kalam’s arrest led STF to subsequent arrests on Monday, with Inam apprehended from Bagda Road at Bongaon in Nadia district of West Bengal, along with Rubel. Yusuf was arrested along with Shahidul Islam alias Surjo and Jahidul Sheikh alias Zafar, from Barapeta in Assam. Surjo is believed to be the Northeast commander of JuMB. During the coordinated raids, the police seized around 2 kg of white powder from Inam and Yusuf. Officials believe it is some kind of explosive substance and samples have been sent for lab tests.