JuMB chief made several visits to Bengal

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has concrete evidence that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen’s (JuMB) West Bengal unit chief Sajid alias Sheikh Rahmatullah visited the state at least a dozen times since 2012 before setting up the “couple” modules.

Investigating agencies stumbled upon the “couple” modules model where terrorists recruit couples for jihadi operations following the October 2 blast at Burdwan.

Probe agencies have information that Sajid first arrived in India in 2012 to monitor and oversee activities of fresh JuMB recruits across the country.

Sajid was arrested by the NIA in Kolkata on November 8. During the investigation, the NIA came to know that as the chief of Bengal operations, Sajid’s primary job was to supervise fresh recruits and see to it that they received orders from the JuMB leadership on a regular basis.

“He was the man behind the amassing of Improvised Explosive Devices in Burdwan and other places. He also looked after the two madrasas in Bengal where JuMB was training new recruits,” an official said.

Following Abdul Hakim’s arrest, who was injured in the October 2 blast, along with two women, Rajira Bibi and Amina Bibi, the agencies got clues into Sajid’s movements.
“We have come to know that Sajid made regular visits to Shimulia madrasa in Burdwan. Here he met two other prime accused, Kauser and Yusuf Sheikh. The duo were instrumental in indoctrinating new recruits,” an officer said.

Officials also said that Sajid was the man behind spreading the JuMB reach.
“He used several illegal madrasas along the Indo-Bangladesh border and shuttled between these, overseeing things,” an official said.

Sajid, who would sneak into India often through the Murshidabad border, stopped using a cell phone since serving a jail term in Bangladesh in 2010, fearing that he may be tracked by the authorities.

Sources in Bangladesh said that at his hometown of Narayangunge, a fundamentalist hotbed, Sajid is known to be a hardcore believer.