Burdwan blast mastermind's wife arrested in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Nov 23: In a prize catch, the wife of Burdwan blast prime accused and the chief of the women's wing of the banned JMB militant group was arrested today in Bangladesh along with three others.

Fatema Begum, who confessed to training at least 25 women militants in India, is said to be the wife of Sajid, Burdwan blast prime accused, said Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

She was the women's wing chief of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, Rahman said. Sajid is the prime accused in the October 2 blast at Burdwan in West Bengal that left two people dead.

"She was held along with three of her associates from Dhaka's Sadarghat along with explosives, bomb-making materials and jihadi books," Rahman was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

In response to a query, police spokesman Monirul Islam said India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) provided significant intelligence on Begum. The four-member team of officials of the NIA that visited Dhaka last week to probe the Burdwan blast plot had provided some names and up to 15 mobile phone numbers to their counterparts here to help them in cracking the case.

During initial interrogation, Begum is said to have confessed she trained at least 25 women, including five Bangladeshis, in Shimulia area of Kolkata, Islam said. Begum was a training coordinator of JMB and she was with Sajid, the political chief of the militant group, during Burdwan blast, Islam added.

"Three women trained those interested to join JMB, Fatema was their coordinator. They sought members from the poor and middle income group. They convinced the poor people to join JMB by offering them rehabilitation," Islam said.

Begum confessed they were storing explosives aiming to launch attacks in line with the directives of their chiefs elsewhere in Bangladesh and India, Islam said.

PTI