JMB Bhopal case: NIA arrests 2 allegedly linked with Bangladesh-based terror outfit

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested two accused in connection with the JMB Bhopal case. The case is related to the arrest of six active members of Bangladesh-based proscribed terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB), including three illegal immigrants from Bhopal in July this year, who were allegedly involved in propagating JMB ideology and motivating the youth to carry out violence against India.

The two arrested have been identified as Hamidullah and Mohammad Sahadat Hussain. The arrested accused are believed to be highly radicalised individuals and involved in posting hateful and incriminating materials online in various groups on different social media platforms. 

The two accused are claimed to be close associates of earlier arrested accused persons in the instant case and were found using encrypted apps to communicate with their associates in India and Bangladesh. Meanwhile, NIA is carrying out its inquiry and is investigating the matter in hand.

JMB Bhopal case

Notably, the case was initially registered on March 14 this year in Bhopal and then was re-registered by the NIA on April 5, 2022. Following this, NIA also conducted searches at six locations in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The searches were conducted at four locations in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and and one each in Bihar's Katihar and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, reported PTI. 

During the searches, digital devices, including mobile phones, SIM cards and memory cards, bank account details, incriminating documents and literature were also seized. The arrested men were identified as Fazhar Ali alias Mehmood (32), Mohd Aqeel alias Ahmed (24), Zahooruddin alias Ibrahim alias Milon Pathan alias Jauhar Ali (28) and Fazhar Zainul Abdeen alias Akram Al Hasan alias Hussain.

The JMB is the outfit that carried out a terror attack at a popular cafe in Bangladesh’s Dhaka in the year 2016. At least 22 people were killed in the attack. Recently, it has been claimed that the outfit is trying to lay its roots in India now. In 2014, the terror group carried out bomb blasts in Bardhaman, West Bengal, in which two people were killed; followed by another attack in Bodh Gaya in 2018.