Acting on a tip-off, the Kolkata Police yesterday arrested a 35-year-old Asadullah Sk alias Raja from the southern metropolis of Chennai. He is suspected to be a member of proscribed terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which has been quite active in India lately.
The Special Task Force of the Kolkata Police arrested Asadullah from a rented house in Canalpuram’s AA Nagar. Asadullah hails from Nityanandapur village in Burdwan, West Bengal and is believed to be involved in the 2018 Bodh Gaya blast. He is suspected to be a mastermind behind many other terror attacks as well. The police will produce Asadullah in court for transit remand and he will be subsequently brought to West Bengal for further interrogation.
In another incident, a week back, Kolkata police had arrested another JMB operative Mohammad Abdul Kashem alias Kashem from Canal East Road in north Kolkata. According to an IPS officer involved in the case, Kashem was directed by his handlers to meet other JMB operatives in the city to finalise their strategies. The court ordered remand custody of Kashem till September 16.
In a massive crackdown against JMB in July this year, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) had arrested 3 terrorists belonging to the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) module in Karnataka. Live Improvised Explosive Devices(IEDs), hand grenades and other incriminating materials were recovered from the terror module. A plan to bomb several places in Karnataka was foiled by the investigating agencies.
In July 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) had issued a notice, raising concerns that the madarsas in West Bengal were used as fertile ground by the operatives of JMB to radicalise youth and recruit them in their armed militia.
Earlier this year, after the government placed a ban on JMB for its terror activities, the terror outfit joined hands with Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba to set up camps along the border and coordinate terror attacks in India.
