Dhaka, Delhi plan hunt for JMB men:Daily Star

Bangladesh and India have planned simultaneous raids along the border to nab the hiding members of the outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Prior to launching the drive, both sides will verify the information and lists of criminals exchanged between the two countries during the two-day meeting that ended in Dhaka on Tuesday, said sources in home ministry. Talking to The Daily Star, Kama
l Uddin Ahmed, senior additional home secretary, said: “We are scrutinising the information received from India. We need to know which information is necessary for us.” Kamal is the chief of a six-member Bangladesh team that will work on militancy and extend support to India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its investigation. Bangladeshi investigators handed over to the NIA team a list of 51 people. Of them, 10 are militants and the rest top criminals who are believed to be hiding in India. The NIA officials gave a list of 11 suspected militants, who were allegedly behind the October 2 Burdwan blast in India. The NIA is probing the blast that left two alleged militants killed and one injured. There are some common names of JMB operatives in the two lists. Advertisement According to Bangladesh Police records, the number of fugitive militants is 260 who are hiding both in India and Bangladesh, especially in the bordering areas. As drives to arrest the militants intensified in recent months, many of them crossed into India. The local militants there are helping them. However, they often visit Bangladesh, hold meetings with fellows, and then go back to India, said investigators. “It's important to conduct simultaneous drives so that the militants don't find hideouts to escape arrest,” said a senior police official who is involved in probing militancy. The two countries should also intensify vigil across the border. “Now there are many border points through which anyone can cross into the other side managing the border guards of both the countries,” he mentioned, asking not to be named. Meanwhile, NIA officials on Tuesday fished out bottles containing explosives for making improvised explosive devices (IED) from near the Burdwan blast site, reports our New Delhi correspondent. Amjad Sheikh, who was arrested on November 10 in connection with the blast, told the officials that he had kept the bottles in a shop. When NIA officials along with police went there, the shop owner told them that he threw the bottles containing picric acid in a nearby pond. Later, the bottles were fished out and the shop owner was detained for interrogation. NIA investigators claimed Amjad, a member of JMB, was instrumental in procuring chemicals and supplying it to other co-conspirators for making IEDs.