NIA, NSG unearth 'terror factories'

Large cache of grenades, socket bombs and IEDs found

The probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Burdwan blast has led it to more safe houses of the terror group that was behind the October 2 incident.

A thorough search of these houses has led the NIA to believe that the group had been setting up terror factories in different parts of West Bengal.

The search started with the house of Rezaul Sheikh, a key suspect in the case. The NIA took help of the elite National Security Guard (NSG) to look for arms and explosives.

In a raid lasting almost the night, the two agencies, aided by NSG sniffer dogs found a large cache of grenades, socket bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in a hidden chamber in the house. They also found traces of RDX during the search, said sources.

An official NIA communiqué said a team of NIA officers and state police conducted search of a house in Burdwan on Thursday evening, where a sack-full of IEDs concealed in a room were recovered. “The NIA officers are being assisted by the NSG team in safe disposal of IEDs as the house is located in thickly populated area,” it stated.

The neutralisation took place by the banks of river Damodar near Burdwan on Friday morning.

The decision to search the house was taken after the NIA found a hand-drawn map during a raid of the Shimulia madrasa, a hub of terror activities where several Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh members were reportedly trained.

According to sources, the secret armoury was barely 100 metres from the house at Khagragarh where the October 2 blast took place.