In the course of conducting searches at various locations in West Bengal, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) detained two additional individuals on Friday who were reportedly engaged in a detonator shipment case.
One of the two people detained has been identified as Mir Mohammad Nurujjaman, who NIA alleges worked as a contract worker in the IT department of West Bengal’s Education Ministry, Bikash Bhawan.
The NIA further said that the other individual was detained after a search in Asansol, which is part of the Paschim Bardhaman district. The second accused has been identified as Seikh Miraj Uddin. 27,000 kgs of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient used to build bombs, enough to flatten cities, were recovered from the accused.
On Saturday, both defendants were scheduled to be presented before the NIA special court. In July 2022, West Bengal’s Special Task Unit carried out a raid in Birbhum district’s Mahammad Bazar neighbourhood and detained a pick-up vehicle that was reportedly carrying 81,000 detonators.
The police said that the criminals planned an explosion but that the authorities jeopardised their plot by apprehending three persons in connection with the case. The Union Home Ministry had asked the NIA to conduct an inquiry after a significant amount of explosive materials were recovered.
Rintu Seikh, who was allegedly the case’s mastermind and the supplier of the detonators, was detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during the investigation. Two additional identities surfaced after Rintu Sheikh was questioned by the NIA.
The NIA conducted searches at Bikash Bhawan and Asansol as a result of the statement and intelligence from a secret source, arresting Mir Mohammad Nurujjaman and Seikh Miraj Uddin.