Eleven Terror Accused Committed Dacoity In Bengaluru To Fund ‘Maal E Ganimat’ Activities, Says NIA

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against 11 terror accused for carrying out dacoities in Karnataka’s capital city Bengaluru to fund their terror activities.

While 10 of them are from Bengal, one of the accused is a native of Assam and have been operating under the banner of the banned outfit Jammaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

According to a release issued by the central agency, the main accused Jahidul Islam/Kausar disclosed all the hideouts of the terrorists and identified shops where they had procured the weapons to carry out the dacoities and the houses attacked for the purpose.

Kausar has been charged with promoting activities of JMB in India and is also one of the prime accused in the serial blasts that took place in Bangladesh in 2005. He is also said to be an accused and the main conspirator in the Bodh Gaya as well as the Burdwan blast cases.

The accused raised funds under the banner ‘Maal E Ganimat’ and committed dacoities in four places in Bengaluru. Two places in Attibele and one each in K R Puram and Kothanur were targeted from February to April in 2018.

The release said that the key accused Kausar is a Bangladeshi national and has been involved in promoting the activities of the JMB in India. The investigations have revealed the ‘broad network forged by JMB terrorists in India for committing terrorist and subversive activities by procuring arms and explosives, recruiting youth and conducting training camps’.

The same organisation, which has been banned in Bangladesh since 2005, is said to have helped the two members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) arrested in Lucknow on Tuesday to arrange for explosives and firearms to carry out terror activities across Uttar Pradesh and the country.

Reports say, Asad Badruddin and Feroz Khan, both residents of Kerala who were arrested from Lucknow’s Gudamba area, visited Bangladesh and sought the help of JMB to procure explosives to trigger blasts in India.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad booked them for illegal possession of explosives, firearms and waging war against the country after the special task force of the UP Police recovered 16 high explosive devices with battery detonators, a pistol and live cartridges.