A Bangladesh link to the recent bomb blast in West Bengal’s Burdwan district has extended to Assam with police claiming that six people arrested from the north-eastern state’s Barpeta district on Thursday are members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Published : 11 Oct 2014, 12:58 PM
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Assam’s Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) SN Singh told bdnews24.com that they were arrested in connection with the Oct 2 Burdwan blast.
“They are members of JMB, though, so far, their direct link with al Quada has not been established. But they were in direct touch with banned fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh,” Singh said.
The arrested, identified as Rafiqul Islam, 39, Siraj Ali Khan, 53, Saiful Islam, 20, Jahuruddin, 60, Golam Osmani, 23, and Sarbesh Ali, 35.
Siraj and Saiful are a father and son duo.
All of them were arrested on Thursday night from their hideout in Barpeta district.
As al Quada chief Ayman Al Zawahiri in a recent video message had called for extending the outfit’s base in Assam, security apparatus here are investigating whether the six had any connection with “greater pan-Islamic organisation.”
“So far their direct link with al Quada has not been established, but they were in direct touch with the fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh,” Singh said.
A court in Guwahati has sent them to 14-day police remand “in view of the sensitivity of the case.”
The Assam police, after preliminary investigation, will hand them over to National Investigation Agency (NIA) for further grilling.
The JMB network in Assam was busted based on the information provided by those arrested by the West Bengal police in connection with Oct 2 blast.
According to police sources the six were involved in manufacturing improvised explosive devices to be used for subversive activities both in India and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Following their arrest, the state has been put on high alert and security along the state’s international border with Bangladesh has been further tightened.