In a major breakthrough the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police nabbed a key operative of the banned Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Ariful Islam, who was allegedly directly involved in the 2018 Bodh Gaya blast. He was apprehended in the early hours of Feburary 16 from central Kolkata.
According to the police, in January 2018, Ariful, along with top JMB leaders Kausar, Adil, Hassan and Chota Kareem, had gone to Bodh Gaya in Bihar, and after conducting reconnaissance, had planted the bombs. After the blast the group fled to Bengaluru where it was involved in several robberies. Twenty-two year old Ariful was the only member of the group that had managed to evade arrest for so long. The police claim that he was in Kolkata for the specific purpose of hatching a plot to orchestrate the escape of Kausar on his way to the court from jail. “Some papers have been seized from him in this regards,” said the police. Kausar was arrested in Bengaluru in August 2018.
“He [Ariful] has given us some leads of new modules and the whereabouts of some important leaders, and with his arrest everyone involved in the Bodh Gaya blast case is now intercepted. He was recruiting new people, so we have been able to stop that process also,” Murlidhar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, STF, told Frontline .
Hailing from Barpeta district in Assam, Ariful went to school in Howli town and worked for a while as a helper of truck drivers. “He came in touch with Jahidul Islam alias Kausar and Abdul Majid and was invited by them to join JMB,” said the police.
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