NIA team due in a day or two

In a day or two, a three-member team from India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrives in Dhaka to learn about “activities” of banned militant outfits in Bangladesh.

The NIA officials are making the visit against the backdrop of October 2 Burdwan blast probe and arrest of persons allegedly linked with Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

In the second major breakthrough in the blast case, the agency yesterday arrested Amjad Ali Sheikh in Birbhum district of West Bengal.

It had recently announced reward for information leading to the arrest of Amjad, suspected to be the main supplier of chemicals for explosive devices manufactured by a Burdwan terror module.

His arrest came three days after Sajid, stated to be a Bangladeshi national and a JMB leader, was apprehended by West Bengal police near Kolkata airport.

Yesterday evening, a minor blast took place near the premises of NIA camp office in Kolkata this evening. The office is being used for interrogating Sajid and other arrested suspects in Burdwan case, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

NIA'S DHAKA VISIT

The Indian team will have a series of meetings with officials of Bangladeshi intelligence agencies dealing with militancy.

It will also meet some senior home ministry officials.

The Indian High Commission in Dhaka in a letter yesterday sent names of the NIA team members to the ministry following a telephone conversation between State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan and Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran.

“We have already approved the visit of NIA team to Bangladesh,” the state minister told journalists at the secretariat yesterday.

Headed by Sanjeeb Kumar Singh, the three-member team includes deputy inspectors general Anurag Tankha and Sajid Farid Shapoo.

The letter read: “For the success of the investigations, it is essential for our authorities to have an interaction with their counterparts in Bangladesh.”

Such an interaction would help find out the absconders in the Burdwan blast case, said the letter, signed by deputy high commissioner Sandeep Chakravorty.

The Indian team wants to understand the “activities of some organisations banned by Bangladesh, modus operandi [method of operation] of theirs members to commit terrorist acts as well as details of their leadership and their organisational structure”, it added.

Home ministry officials said the two sides would share information about JMB's plans in the two countries.

Exchange of intelligence and interrogation of arrested militants in the countries might give a clue about the location of nearly 40 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) that were shipped to Bangladesh from India ahead of the October 2 blast, they added.

Meanwhile, the Indian side has already sent details of militants involved in the Burdwan blast to Bangladesh.

“We got the reply to our note verbal sent to the Indian authorities requesting information about the blast,” Senior Home Secretary Mozammel Haque Khan told The Daily Star yesterday, without giving any further details.

Earlier, state minister for foreign affairs Shariar Alam said the two countries might conduct joint drives to detain the absconding militants involved in the cross-border crimes.

The state minister said that the law-enforcers yesterday detained Monaem, brother of Burdwan blast accused Sajid.

He, however, did not say from where Monaem, who works in a welding factory in Narayanganj, was arrested.

Sajid whose real name is Masud Rana was arrested from Kolkata on Friday. He is the first Bangladeshi to be held over the Burdwan blast that left two alleged JMB member killed and another injured.

The arrest of Sajid, who hails from Farajikanda village under Bandar thana of Narayanganj, came as big breakthrough in the case. He is now on a 10-day NIA remand for interrogation.

NIA had announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh for information leading to capture of Sajid who is stated to be the chief of the Burdwan JMB unit.