Dhaka attack mastermind ran ISIS module in Bengal?

New Delhi, July 15: When an accidental blast took place in Burdwan, it was just a pre-cursor to the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh problem in India. The plot uncovered in Burdwan indicated that a large number of JMB operatives had infiltrated into West Bengal with an intention of setting up a safe house to prepare bombs.

These bombs were then meant to be transported to Bangladesh where a series of attacks were to take place.

While there was denial galore by the West Bengal dispensation, today in the aftermath of the Dhaka attack the gravity of the problem needs to be revisited. A dossier from Bangladesh to India is on its way in which a mention about missing youths will be made.

Dhaka suspects that as many as 100 of their nationals wanted for various acts of crime and terrorism have gone missing and many could have taken shelter in West Bengal.

On this list the name of Muhammad Suleiman, the man suspected to have masterminded the Dhaka attack, too will be there as it is now suspected that he had taken shelter in Bengal.

The Indian connection to Suleiman

Following reports from Bangladesh, the Indian agencies are trying to find clues regarding Suleiman. The one solid bit of evidence that India has about Suleiman is that he had met with one Abu al-Musa Al Bangali, the man arrested from Burdwan for his alleged ISIS links.

A fortnight ago when Bangali was arrested, he had told investigators that he knew who Suleiman was. He even said that Suleiman was his handler. What the investigators are trying to find out is whether it is the same Suleiman who had also masterminded the Dhaka attack.

An officer investigating the case tells OneIndia that it is the same person, but they would want to verify it further.

According to investigations in Dhaka, Suleiman had slipped into Bengal around 7 months back after finalising the Dhaka strike.

There is a good possibility that he had taken shelter in West Bengal since the state is not new to him. As per the account given by Bangali, he had met with Suleiman 5 times between 2014 and 2015.

100 people missing

For India, Bangladesh is a friendly nation and the two have set up several joint mechanisms to combat terror, infiltration and the menace of fake currency. An Indian Intelligence Bureau official says that they would await the dossier from Bangladesh.

Incidents of criminals fleeing Bangladesh and taking shelter in West Bengal or vice versa is nothing new.

Not just West Bengal, but several operatives had even taken shelter in Assam as well. The officer said that based on the information provided in the dossier all steps would be taken to locate these persons.

Intelligence Bureau officials had said that the JMB cadres had found it easier to hide in West Bengal and blamed it on an over dose of secularism (How an over-dose of secularism helped this terror group thrive in Bengal).

At first JMB cadres found safe houses in Bengal with the help of the SIMI. The problem has been ignored to such an extent that not person objected or complained when posters were put out by the JMB in various parts of Bengal in which a call to join the proscribed outfit was made.

OneIndia News