In a prize catch for Indian security agencies, a top operative of terror outfit Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), who was involved in a blast aimed at Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in January last year, has been arrested from by the special task force (STF) of the West Bengal Police in Bihar on Monday. A low-intensity bomb had exploded on January 19 last year; hours after the Dalai Lama had finished a sermon at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya.
Ejaz Ahmad alias Amir, a resident of Birbhum district of West Bengal, was apprehended from a house at Pathan Toli locality of Buniyadganj police station area in Gaya district, a Bihar police officer said in Gaya on Monday evening. "He (Ejaj Ahmad) is the topmost Indian functionary and the main recruiter of the working in India. He was in constant touch with JMB terrorists in Bangladesh. He is wanted in a number of JMB-related cases," Deputy Commissioner of Police (STF) Subhankar Sinha Sarkar told the media in Kolkata.
Acting on a tip-off that the accused was hiding in Gaya district, a team of the Kolkata Police STF and Bihar Police conducted a raid and apprehended him. "Ejaj had played a vital role in the Bodh Gaya blast in 2018. He was living with his wife and children under different names and was regularly changing address," the Bihar police officer said.
Sarkar said Ejaj was working as the main recruiter working in different illegal madrasas which came up in the India-Bangladesh border areas of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam." A police source said Ejaj has been an active member of the JMB for a decade and was in touch with top operatives of the outfit. He was in contact with the JMB's overall chief Salauddin Salaehin and was asked to do the recruitment for Jamat-ul-Mujahideen India (JMI) whose announcement was made by Salaehin in 2018.
Indian security have arrested more than 15 JMB operatives in the last two years including the terror group's former head Kausar alias Jahidul Islam.Ejaj has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to criminal conspiracy and harbouring a person a state prisoner or prisoner of war and the Explosive Substances Act.
No weapon was recovered from Ejaj's possession, the police said adding they would be sending his mobile phone for forensic tests to find out details of his contacts, police said. After the Bodh Gaya blast, Ejaj Ahmad had fled first to Bangalore and then to Kerala and in both places, he used to work as a mason from West Bengal. He returned to Gaya sometime back.
According to Indian security agencies, the JMB has operatives in Nadia, Burdwan and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal and their activities first came to light in October, 2014 when an accidental blast had occurred in a house in Khagragarh in Burdwan district.