NIA Picks Up Bangladeshi Militant From Murshidabad

New Delhi: From North to East, Indian probe agencies have started cracking down all over the country in the Delhi blast case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday is learnt to have picked up one Iqtiyar, a Bangladeshi national and an active member of its militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), from Murshidabad for alleged involvement in Delhi terror blast. Iqtiyar is believed to have provided logistical support to terror operatives who sneaked into India from Rajshahi (Bangladesh) in early November and may have played a role in the Delhi blast.

Iqtiyar is an accused in the murder of a Bangladesh detective branch officer and is on the run. His safe house in Murshidabad is regularly used by the ABT members. Indian agencies are probing for his larger role and link with the Delhi blast.

Iqtiyar’s role in the Delhi blast case came to light after Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) Commander Saifullah Saif in October last week held a meeting with seven Bangladeshis during which plans to have large scale terror attacks in India were planned. The meeting arranged at Banani, an upscale locality in Dhaka, was attended by Dhaka head of banned Islamic group Hizb-Ul-Tahrir (HuT) Zubair Ahmad Chaudhury; Saif’s right hand and general secretary of Markaazi Jamiat-Ahl-e-Hadis, Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer; Bangladesh’s interim regime secretary home affairs Dr Nasirul Ghani; Mohammad Azaz, the CEO of Dhaka North Corporations and HuT coordinator; Hafiz Shujadullah and Hafiz Ali Fazul, the up-pradhans of militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and explosive expert Sumon Ahmed.

During the meeting Saif gave operational directions to the team on carrying out large-scale terror attacks in India and the support they were to get from Pakistan-based LeT. As per sources, after the meeting, a team along with explosive expert Sumon Ahmed sneaked into India through Murshidabad in early November with the task of training people in West Bengal and other parts of the country to carry out terror attacks.

In Murshidabad they were all believed to be put up in the safe house of Iqtiyar. According to sources in the agencies, some supplies from Pakistan too had reached West Bengal and were likely used in the Delhi blast. The investigating agencies had reached Murshidabad while tracing the terror trail and have launched a manhunt for the people who have crossed over to Murshidabad in India through Rajshahi. The Bangladesh government has rejected claims that Bangladesh soil is being used against India.

Last week, the West Bengal Special Task Force had arrested one Faisal Ahmed from Nadia district, adjacent to the Indo-Bangladesh border. The police seized several gadgets and unexplained money from Faisal Ahmed. The STF suspects his brother Sabir Ahmed, already arrested in a drug smuggling case, might be linked to the Delhi blast case. STF believes the two brothers have links with ABT.