Burdwan blast suspect held

Police in India's Jharkhand state say they have arrested a top militant of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from the state's Pakur district.

The JMB terrorirst Ibrahim Sheikh alias Lal Mohammed was arrested late on Saturday night. 
 
It took several hours to confirm his identity and involved exchange of data between West Bengal and Jharkhand police.
 
"Ibrahim was the right man of JMB's chief of India operations Sajid Sheikh. He was shouldering much of JMB's organisational responsibility in India after Sajid was arrested in November last year," said Pakur Superintendent of Police (SP) Anoop Birthary. 
 
Ibrahim hails from West Bengal's Murshidabad district where he ran a madrassa and radicalised scores of JMB recruits picked up from Muslims in West Bengal districts. 
 
Later, he was closely involved in running the Burdwan network that manufactured bombs for use in Bangladesh.
 
During his days of hiding, Ibrahim has picked up more than a dozen Muslim boys in Jharkhand to work for JMB, SP Anoop Birthary said, quoting Ibrahim's confessions.

He said Ibrahim was arrested from outside Tilbhitta Railway Station near the tri-junction of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bangladesh.  A revolver with six cartridges and four crude bombs were seized from him besides some jihadi literature. 
 
This is the second major arrest of JMB leaders from Jharkhand.
 
NIA had earlier arrested Rejaul Sheikh from a railway station in Sahebganj district on Bengal-Jharkhand border.
 
Eleven people, some of Bangladesh origin, have been arrested in connection with the Oct 2 Burdwan blasts so far. 
 
The chargesheet against the accused says they were involved in 'conspiracy to overthrow the Hasina government in Bangladesh by campaign of violence and terror'.