Arrested JMB men trying to build terror module in Bengal: STF official

The three neo-Jamaat-ul- Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists who were arrested in Kolkata were in the process of building modules in West Bengal, a senior official of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police said on Tuesday.

It is suspected that they have associates in some districts of the state, he said.

"Initial interrogation revealed that the JMB operatives were trying to build modules in West Bengal. These militants may have links with terror groups such as Al Qaeda or Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI). The documents seized from them indicate this," the official said.

The STF arrested JMB operatives Najiur Rahman, Rabiul Islam and Sabir from Haridevpur area of South Kolkata on Sunday. They are Bangladeshi nationals who had used forged documents to get a room on rent.

Their linkman, identified as Salim Munshi, had used the identity card of an unsuspecting elderly man to prepare a fake identity card for Najiur, the officer said.

Najiur became Jayram Byapari in the fake identity card and the elderly man his father.

"Munshi had used the identity card to prepare a fake identity card. He borrowed it from an old man on the pretext that his brother was coming from Bangladesh and required a document to get a driving licence to drive an autorickshaw," the officer said.

The three persons had come from Bangladesh to Kolkata a few months ago.

Several documents, including jihadi materials, lists of top JMB leaders and their associates in other terror groups were seized from their possession.

A number of JMB operatives including Indians were arrested from West Bengal in the past few years.

The JMB, which carried out a terror attack at a popular cafe in Dhaka in 2016 in which 22 people including 17 foreigners were killed, is trying to spread its tentacles in India, the NIA had said in 2019.