Banned Bangla outfit planning 'attacks' in Bengaluru

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is cracking down on the funders of proscribed extremist group Jamat-Ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and its recent avatar Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which is said to be active in Bengaluru and other parts of South India.

If sources in the NIA are to be believed, some active members of the JMB floated the ABT after the government of India banned the former a few years ago.

The ABT, through its network of patrons, is reportedly establishing its roots in the southern states. NIA officers are certain that ABT members are behind some of the infamous dacoities reported from Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka last year. The home department held top-level discussions with officials of the NIA and the Internal Security Division of the state police in Bengaluru on Friday to discuss the strategies to counter the growing threats from the ABT.

In July, the NIA had raided a rented house in northern Bengaluru’s Soladevanahalli, seizing five fabricated hand grenades, a timer, three electric circuits, suspected explosives, components used for making IEDs and rockets.

Five suspects — Asif Iqbal, Dilawar Hussain, Mustafizur Rahman, Adil Sheikh and Abdul Kareem — were arrested during the raid.

The raid was based on the information provided by the suspects detained in the 2014 Burdwan blasts and the 2013 Bodh Gaya blasts.

NIA sleuths also carried out searches in other parts of Bengaluru, and in Hosur, Arakkonam, Ambur, Palakkad, Mallapuram and other places in South India. Sources said the five arrested suspects had tested rocket launchers and explosive materials at Soladevanahalli. Last September, an NIA team took them to Krishnagiri, TN, and carried out searches there.