‘Sajid’s wife was in Burdwan blast site’

Detective Branch says it has nabbed the wife of Sheikh Rahmatullah alias Sajid, an alleged commander of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 23 Nov 2014, 03:47 AM
Updated : 23 Nov 2014, 08:45 PM

Sajid was arrested for allegedly leading a terror module in West Bengal in the aftermath of the Oct 2 Burdwan explosions.

Fatima Akhter, 25, is the head of JMB’s wing for women, said DB Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman on Sunday.

She was arrested with three others from Sadarghat on Saturday night. They were found in possession of Jihadi literature, explosives and materials used for making bombs, the DB said.

The others arrested are Abdullah Kazi, Md Ishrat Sheikh and Md Shawkat Sardar.

DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam told a press briefing on Sunday afternoon that Fatima was with Sajid during the explosions in a house in Burdwan, that had been turned into a factory for making bombs.

“She was next to her husband when the incident took place,” he said.

“The others joined JMB between 2004 and 2005. They were arrested after carrying out a heist at the BRAC Bank at Gopalganj in 2005. Sajid too had been arrested with them.”

The men had been on the run after securing bail in 2011, said the DMP official.

Sajid aka Sheikh Rahmatullah aka Burhan Sheikh was arrested as a prime suspect after Indian investigators found evidence linking Bangladesh militants to the blast.

He is said to be from Farazikanda of Narayanganj’s Bandar Upazila.
“Fatima fled to Jharkhand after the explosion and then from there, she made her way to Bangladesh,” said Additional Deputy Police Commissioner Md Chanwar Hossain.

She used to coordinate militant training for women members of JMB at the Shimulia madrassa in Burdwan and was among the three female trainers there, said Joint Commissioner Monirul.

“The madrasa gave meals to poor girls besides providing them education. Fatima would scout for the most qualified among them.”

They are given physical training and taught to fire weapons and air guns, we were told during interrogation.”

“At least 25 women got training there. Six of them were Bangladeshi and the rest Indians. They are all on the run now.”

Detectives are trying to find if she was in communication with the individuals whose names were handed over by a team of India’s National Investigation Agency that visited Dhaka recently, he said.

Earlier, RAB-11 arrested a welder named Md Monayem aka Monwar Hossain aka Mona based on Indian intelligence inputs. He is said to have a brother named Masum Mia, aka Masud which authorities believe is another name for Sajid.

Official police statement said Fatima was arrested but a source within the Detective Branch said she was actually detained on Thursday. Several media outlets published the news of her arrest on Friday after quoting sources in the DB.

One of such reports said she was arrested in a raid at Keraniganj by police on Thursday night after she crossed the border on Nov 8 and was hiding in a relative’s house following Sajid's arrest.

The raid to catch Fatima was planned based on the information and cell phone number handed to Dhaka by the NIA team, the reports claimed.

But DB deputy commissioner maintained that Fatima was arrested on Saturday night.

“The DB did not arrest her before. It’s their problem if they ran such reports … the DB has nothing to say here.”

The NIA team headed by Director General Sharad Kumar handed over a list of 11 suspected terrorists to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and received a list of 51 criminals including 10 militants said to be in hiding in India.