Kolkata (West Bengal): Following the 2014 Khagragarh blast, the NIA and state law enforcing agencies had come down heavily on the suspected terror modules in West Bengal, which literally broke the back of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit in neighbouring Bangladesh. Now after the arrest of three suspected JMB operatives, questions are rising about JMB regrouping across the border and planting sleeper cells in West Bengal.
In face of integration the trio has admitted that they had regular links with Aaal Amin, a top leader of Bangladesh- based terror outfit, JMB. The investigating sleuths have come across a number of circumstantial evidence that establishes that link. The trio has given many such exciting facts to the probe officials.
City police sources said that that the trio was to Kolkata with the aim of reactivating the sleeper cells in different pockets of the state. Another aim was to set up links in the different vital installations and restricted places in the state and accordingly send detailed information about these vital installations and restricted places to the top JMB leadership in Bangladesh.
Sources further said they used to get direct help from Bangladesh in their efforts. Sleuths have now learnt that the trio had crossed border and landed in Kolkata after they got instructions from Nahid Tasmin, the incarcerated JMB leader in Bangladesh’s Kashipur prison. Regular funds for reactivating the sleeper cells were also coming from Bangladesh.
Read: Kolkata STF interrogates three arrested JMB terrorists
The sleuths of the special task force (STF) of Kolkata Police will shortly interact with their counterparts in Bangladesh on this issue. After the 2015 Khagragarh in Burdwan district in Bangladesh following the massive crack down by state and central agencies on the terror modules in the state, the sleeper cells of JMB lost much of its sheen. Previously they used to settle in the districts like Basirhat in North 24 Parganas, Burdwan and Birbhum, among other. Previously they used to avoid Kolkata.
But as the probe agencies became active in destroying the terror modules in the district, the JMP operators shifted their focus to Kolkata- nearby suburbs as their new safe corridor.
However, previously there were instances of arrest of JMB activists by police from Kolkata. So probably instead of choosing any place within proper Kolkata, they chose Haridebpur, which in the southern fringes of Kolkata. Although they selected Haridebpur as their hideout, their main target was setting up links in the major restricted areas in Kolkata especially the reformatory homes.
It is learnt that besides the sleuths of STF, who arrested the trio, they will also be separately interrogated by the officers of criminal investigation department (CID) of West Bengal police. In the meantime, the officers of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have also contacted the STF sleuths.
Read: CID takes over probe into death of Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari's bodyguard
