Assam on B'deshi jihadi radar

*    Under interrogation, top JMB ideologue reveals design to target Bodo groups
*    Over 100 recruits from Assam trained in arms and explosives use to create mayhem

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, May 21: The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which had plans to overthrow the Sheikh Hasi regime, also had Assam and West Bengal on its radar.

JMB ideologue Lal Mohammed alias Ibrahim, who was arrested in April by Jharkhand police, has told interrogators that the jihadi outfit’s sabotage plans in Assam was to counter Bodo aggression.

No wonder that the modules busted so far were around BTAD – in Barpeta and lbari districts.

Ibrahim is learnt to have recruited more than 150 persons including women for jihad in India since 2010-2011. The recruits were indoctrited in the Simulia mosque in Burdwan and Lal Golla mosque in Murshidabad by undertaking religious courses, affiliated to Ahle-Hadis ideology, ranging from two to five days.

Many of the recruits were from Assam and some of them were trained in handling explosives.

Ibrahim had been associated with JMB since 2008 and was in-charge of training centres affiliated with the radical group.

One of the prime accused in the Burdwan blast and the kingpin of the JMB module in Assam Sahanur Alom had told interrogators that over a 100 recruits from the State, mostly youths from Lower Assam districts, have undergone “training” in the Madrassas of West Bengal. The recruits were trained in handling guns and assembling explosives.

The sources also said Sahanur had been “on the job” to spread the jihadi network since the last two/three years.

“The duration of the training of the people varied. We have come across three such Madrassas where the people were taken to. Some were at kept there for two weeks…others for longer duration,” said an NIA officer investigating the case.

After the training, the people were sent back to their respective places. “They were asked to give their contact number and told they would be contacted when needed,” he said.

Security agencies are now trying to identify and bust the source of the weapons and explosives to the jihadi elements. “We need to look into this angle minutely – from where were the weapons and explosives sourced? Do they have any links with other Indian groups?,” said the official.