Tripura blast: 3 Banglas in police custody

Agartala, Oct 4: A local court today sent four persons, including three Bangladeshis, suspected to be involved in the October one Agartala serial blasts, to seven days' police custody.

Police said three Bangladeshi nationals--Mohammad Joynal (28), resident of Chittagong, Mohammad Abdul Malek (22), resident of Rangpur and Md Rosan Jaman of Shylet--were arrested when they were crossing the international border near Akhaura check-post last evening while Narul Amin (43) of Agartala was arrested on Wednesday night for his suspicious movement and statement.

''The Bangladeshi nationals claimed that they were coming from Ajmer Sheriff in Rajasthan through Agartala but could not produce any ticket and did not even disclose their address in Agartala during the blasts,'' police said. Their statements were distrustful and seemed contradictory, they added.

After a brief hearing, all the arrested were sent to police custody for a week even though the investigating agency sought ten-day police remand for further interrogation.

Meanwhile, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and National Security Guard (NSG) officials ascertained the similarity of the blasts with Delhi and Bangalore.

Though police are yet to link any definite connection with the Harkat-Ul-Jihad-Islami (HUJI), Al-Quida and Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) with Wednesday's blasts, preliminary investigation established international terrorist link.

The investigation had revealed that ammonium nitrate, fuel oil and timer devices were used to trigger the four blasts which left 80 people seriously injured. Two of them were shifted to Kolkata and Guwahati in critical condition.

Investigating agencies recovered one mobile handset, a nine-volt battery and residue of tiffin boxes from blast sites, which indicated use of a stronger terror module in triggering the serial blasts.

However, due to the low quantity of explosives, the intensity was comparatively less, police said. Ammonium nitrate and fuel oil was suspected to have been used in making the bombs and the blasts had a lot of similarities with previous incidents in other parts of the country, they added.

UNI