Suspected JMB terrorist arrested from Chennai

The Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police has arrested a suspected operative of the terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Chennai on Tuesday, a senior officer of the force said.

Thirty five-year-old Asadullah Sheikh alias Raja, a resident of West Bengal's Purba Burdwan district, was arrested from his hideout in Chennai's Nilangarai area, he said.

"We had information that Raja was hiding in Chennai. Our officers conducted a raid and caught him from Nilangarai area. He was living in a rented house there. Raja is an active member of the JMB," he said.

Several documents and a mobile phone were seized from his possession, he added.

The suspected Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh operative has been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and will be produced before a court in Chennai's Alandur for his transit remand, the officer said.

Five suspected Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh members, including Raja, have been arrested by the Kolkata Police STF since the last week of August.

A top operative of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, who was involved in the 2018 Bodh Gaya blast, was arrested by the STF of Kolkata Police from Bihar last week.

The Centre in May this year declared Bangladesh-based Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which was blamed for the terror attack on a Dhaka cafe in 2016 that claimed the lives of 22 people, including 17 foreigners, as a banned terrorist organisation.