More than a month after the initial 10 arrests in connection with the blast in Burdwan, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Assam police on Friday arrested two more accused.
“We have arrested one Zia-ul Haque who was alleged to be part of the group of the jehadi trainers and key motivator of new recruits. He was closely associated with top Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) commanders including Sajid alias Suman who is absconding. This is just the beginning. We are hopeful of nabbing more accused soon,” said a senior NIA official requesting anonymity.
In another important breakthrough, the NIA has also recovered laptop of Riazul Karim, one of prime accused in the case, from Haque’s house and it is being forensically analysed to cull data from it. “The NIA arrested Zia-ul Haque, a resident of Malda district in West Bengal for his role in the Burdwan case.
Haque is alleged to be a close associate of two main absconding accused — Riazul Karim and Yusuf Skeikh alias Maulana Yusuf and he was staying in Masjid Talha in Khagragarh of Burdwan district. After the October 2 blast, Haque was on the run,” added the official.
“Shanur Ali was alleged to be the leader of JMB’s Assam module. His wife Suzina Begum has been arrested in a separate operation by the Assam police. Suzina Begum is suspected to have got jehadi training in Simullia madarsa in Burdwan. She later shifted based to Assam. These arrests will also form the part of the NIA probe later,” said the official.
{{/usCountry}}“Shanur Ali was alleged to be the leader of JMB’s Assam module. His wife Suzina Begum has been arrested in a separate operation by the Assam police. Suzina Begum is suspected to have got jehadi training in Simullia madarsa in Burdwan. She later shifted based to Assam. These arrests will also form the part of the NIA probe later,” said the official.
{{/usCountry}}As far as Zia-ul Haque is concerned, counter terror officials say, he used to facilitate the training module of JMB in Burdwan.
He was a key motivator of new recruits. He used to collect videos of the Gujarat riots, Assam riots, killing of Rohingiyas Muslims in Myanmar. These video clips were then shown to the trainees.