A suspected Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorist was
detained from West Tripura district on Tuesday, said Director General of
Police Akhil Kumar Shukla. The detainee is likely to be produced before
a local court tomorrow.
Addressing a press conference at Tripura Police headquarters here
this evening, DGP Shukla said that the suspect was identified as Nazir
Sheikh (25) from Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
“As per our information, he is associated with Bangladesh based
terror outfit Jamat-ul-Mujahideen and was trained in Improvised
Explosive Devices (IED),” DGP Shukla said, adding that the detainee was
being interrogated about his mission, associates, hideouts and other
details.
Police also suspect that the JMB was involved in planting three IEDs
at Bodhgaya during the Dalai Lama’s visit to Bihar in January 2018. “We
have reasons to believe that this terror group was involved in planting
those IEDs at Bodhgaya. We are trying to explore all possible angles and
contexts in our interrogation on the detainee,” he said.
The official also said that possibilities of Sheikh’s Bangla terror
associates being active in India are not being ruled out. The JMB
established links with few people in India and were planning to hold
terror activities in the country, he added.
Earlier in 2005, JMB held a series of blasts in Bangladesh.
On Tripura’s war on drugs, DGP Shukla said over 65 thousand kilograms
of cannabis were recovered in different parts of the state in last one
year along with narcotic pills and other contraband drugs. “We are
trying to figure out whether the terror operatives have any link with
these drug cartels,” the official said.
