Is Security in 7 Bengal Districts at Risk Due to JMB's Module Plans?

Kolkata, June 8 (NationPress) Security and intelligence agencies, both at the Central and state levels, are currently on high alert due to intelligence reports about the intentions of the Bangladesh-based extremist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to establish operational modules in minority-populated areas across seven districts in West Bengal.

According to sources, the intelligence information pertaining to this two-phase module establishment plan was primarily obtained from the interrogation of three recent JMB affiliates arrested. Last month, two individuals were apprehended in Birbhum — Aazmal Hossain and Saheb Ali Khan — while another, Abasuddin Molla, was captured in South 24 Parganas.

Moreover, additional insights have been gathered through field operatives from both Central and state intelligence bodies.

Sources indicated that in the initial phase, the group has targeted three districts: Malda, Murshidabad, and North Dinajpur for establishing these modules. Once this is accomplished, the subsequent targets will be North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, and Birbhum.

An insider from the state police disclosed that the strategy was meticulously crafted to encompass the most sensitive regions in both North and South Bengal.

While North Dinajpur and Malda are situated in the northern part of the state, the remaining five districts are located in the southern region. Except for Birbhum, all six districts share international borders with Bangladesh.

Although Birbhum does not share a border, it serves as a crucial transit point linking South Bengal and North Bengal through Murshidabad. It is noteworthy that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) uncovered during its probe into the multi-crore cattle-smuggling scandal that Birbhum was a key transit route to Bangladesh via Murshidabad.

The method for establishing these modules involves initially indoctrinating youth, including minors, and subsequently integrating them into sleeper cells. The police have acquired information regarding some of the young individuals who were targeted by the three arrested JMB members.

Investigation officials have tracked Abasuddin Molla’s links to Pakistan, one of the three JMB affiliates apprehended by the West Bengal Police's special task force (STF) earlier this month.

According to the investigators, the coded messages recovered from the mobile devices of Aazmal Hossain and Saheb Ali Khan indicated connections with associates of various Bangladesh-based extremist organizations, including JMB, Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HUT), and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

However, the encrypted messages on Molla's phone revealed ongoing communications with individuals in Pakistan, as well as ties to the Jammu and Kashmir-based extremist group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.