3 Myanmar nationals tied to Burdwan blast held

Dhaka: Three Myanmar nationals have been arrested in connection with the Burdwan blast, as India and Bangladesh stepped up the hunt for the conspirators along their borders to nab over 100 militants of the outlawed JMB.

The three are members of Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and other Myanmar-based outfits, said Krishna Pada Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Monday.

On Monday morning, DMP forwarded a short message to the media revealing that three militants linked to the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Burdwan blast were arrested from Dhaka.

“We are investigating if they are linked to the JMB,” Krishna Pada Roy said at the briefing. Those arrested were identified as Noor Hossain alis Rafiqul Islam, Yasir Arafat and Umar Karim, caught from Dhaka’s Lalbagh area around 10 pm on Sunday night. The three arrested were sued in two cases – Anti-Terrorism Act and Explosives and Substances Act.

Five detonators, two gel-based bomb materials and 500kg explosive substances were seized from them, police said adding, that the arrest came in line with information shared with Delhi.

“We don’t have information as to whether they went to India or not,” Krishna Pada said. “We suspect that the arrestees have close ties with those accused in the Burdwan blast.”

“At prima facie, they trespassed into Bangladesh. They are involved in the militant group RSO. They studied in madrassa as a cover up and operate militant activities underneath,” he said.

The trio said to have confessed that Khalid Mohammed, who was earlier arrested in India in connection to Burdwan blast, was their ideological leader. On October 2, two suspected militants were killed and another injured in an explosion at a house in Kolkata’s Burdwan area.

NIA also arrested a Myanmar national from Hyderabad in connection with the Burdwan blast. The agency identified the 38-year-old arrestee as Khaleed alias Khalid Mohammed.

A Dhaka team recently visited India to share information on militancy with Delhi. This visit was followed by the meeting of India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Dhaka.

Indian law enforcers reportedly traced a wide JMB network and unearthed a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia after the blast. It was found that the bombs made in Burdwan were intended to be used on Bangladesh.

Chief accused in the case, Sajid, has been arrested. His brother was later arrested from Bangladesh. His wife, JMB’s women wing chief, was arrested from Dhaka recently.