JMB cadres carried out robberies to fund terror

NEWDELHI: ... the JMB operatives carried out at least three robberies in Bengaluru while being on the run after planting bombs in Bodh Gaya in January this year

Operatives of the terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh’s (JMB) carried out robberies in Bengaluru to sustain their activities after planting bombs in Bodh Gaya this January, officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Sunday, adding that it was neither the first nor the last time that Jihadists fell back on theft to achieve their goals.

The terror outfit planted three A SENIOR NIA OFFICIAL

improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the Mahabodhi temple when the Dalai Lama was visiting the Buddhist shrine. The plan was to target a large number of pilgrims but the devices were discovered by security forces due to a malfunction.

Bangladeshi national Zahidul-Islam, alias Qausar, was arrested by NIA in connection with the case from Bengaluru early last month. The prized terror catch, who was on the run since an October 2014 blast in Burdwan, West Bengal, has given investigators extensive details about the activities and network of JMB in India.

The accidental blast in Burdwan, where JMB cadres were preparing Improvised Explosive Devices, revealed how JMB was using the border districts of West Bengal and Assam as hideouts to save its cadres from a crackdown in Bangladesh.

“A group of Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives in Madhya Pradesh looted gold from the branches of a loan company to buy a flat in Jharkhand to use as a hideout. A Kolkata-based shoe baron was kidnapped by the group of jihadists who later attacked the American Centre in the West Bengal capital in 2002. Similarly, the JMB operatives carried out at least three robberies in Bengaluru while being on the run after planting bombs in Bodh Gaya in Janaury this year,” said a senior NIA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The NIA has formally informed the Karnataka police about the robberies carried out by JMB operatives, he added.