On Sunday, three suspected terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were arrested from south Kolkata’s Haridevpur area, police said. The arrests were made by the Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force (STF), they said. According to sources, vital documents and diaries have been recovered from the detainees.
As per STF officials, three youths who have been arrested were renting a house in Behala, South Kolkata, and have been living there for a year. They also changed their identities and claimed to be Indian citizens, officials said. Several other documents including Bangladeshi passports were found with the accused. Although the police are investigating whether they are real or fake.
The detainees have been identified as Naziur Rahman Pavel, 30; Mekail Khan, 30; and Rabiul Islam, 22. After interrogation, officials recovered a diary that contains the names and phone numbers of the JMB leaders. Investigations have revealed that the detainees have been in touch with ISIS through their Facebook accounts.
Many JMB militants have been arrested so far, mainly from Birbhum, Malda, or Murshidabad and the arrest of JMB militants in this manner in Kolkata has created a stir.
JMB insurgency has been evident in Bengal, especially since the Khagragarh incident. In December last year, police arrested a man namely Nazimuddin from Birbhum. He was a member of JMB’s Birbhum module. Hence, the subsequent arrest of three people at a time is being hailed as a major success for the STF branch of the Kolkata Police.
Earlier, the police received the inputs about the activation of the JMB Slipper Cell in Kolkata. Later, the police started a man-hunt.
Police also tapped and decrypted the telephonic conversations of the suspects and took vital leads from there. Following the leads, the STF finally succeeded in nabbing the three people from Kolkata.
According to sources, vital information has been procured from the confiscated mobile phones of the suspects. Detectives have obtained the phone numbers of several top JMB leaders.
Police have learned that there were many cases related to the name of Joseph alias Naziur Rahman before. Joseph had also spent three years in prison. Moreover, he had contacts with JMB top leader Al Amin. The militant leader used to keep in touch with Joseph from Bangladeshi jails.
But why are the members of JMB Slipper Cell active again? Meanwhile, the police are trying to find out if the trio had plans to carry out a terror attack in Kolkata.