Khagragarh blast: JMB 2nd in command arrested in B'desh

Nasirullah, alias Sohail Mahfuj, the second in command of the Jamat-Ul-Mujahideen (Bangladesh), was arrested in Bangladesh on Saturday morning.

He was wanted in connection with the Khagragarh blast case in Burdwan and also played a major role in the Holey Artisan Bakery incident.

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) is going to visit Bangladesh to interrogate Nasirullah, whose name had arrived as an absconder in the charge-sheet that NIA had filed on July 16 in 2016. He was one of the 30 absconding JMB activists whose name appeared in the charge-sheet.

Acting on a tip-off, Bangldesh Police conducted a raid and arrested Nasirullah along with three of his more associates – Hafiz, Juel and Jamal. They were arrested from a hideout at Chapaibabganj in Bangladesh.

NIA had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh for providing information that would help to arrest Nasirullah, who was also known as Hathkata Nasir.

Investigation had revealed that Nasirullah, who is a resident of Kamarkhali in Kustia, was the first person to become successful in spreading the tentacles of JMB in Bengal.

A thorough investigation by NIA after the Khagragarh blast incident had revealed that the JMB had tried to use Bengal as its base to carry out terror attacks in Bangladesh.

Nasirullah had been hiding in Bangladesh and he is one of the members of a faction of JMB that was hand in gloves with ISIS.

Besides recruiting youth in JMB, Nasirullah had also played a major role in gathering fund and providing training on operation of guns. He was also an expert in making bombs.

The NIA officers now feel that with the arrest of Nasirrullah, it would become easier to arrest the remaining accused of the Khagragarh blast incident.