Bodh Gaya blast: JMB militant arrested in West Bengal for plotting terror strikes during Dalai Lama's visit

Kolkata: Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested a member of Islamist terrorist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district in connection with the bomb blast case in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya on 19 January, a senior officer said. [caption id=“attachment_4312099” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Security personnel at the Patliputra Karuna Stupa after two crude bombs were found on 19 January. PTI[/caption] Police have already arrested three more JMB suspects from various parts of the state in relation to the case earlier this month. “Nur Alam Momin alias Alam, 24, a resident of Murshidabad’s Dhuliyan was arrested on Friday morning from infront of a health centre in the district’s Samshergunj area. He participated in a meeting with JMB leaders in Hyderabad, where the Bodh Gaya blast was planned”, Murlidhar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Special Task Force of Kolkata Police said in a release. Alam was produced to Bankshall Court in Kolkata and has been sent to 10 days of police custody, he said. Alam, a trader of scarves and Islamic books, went to Hyderabad with five others in November last year for 15 days and met some important JMB leaders where they planned the Bodh Gaya blast. “Whether he went to Bodh Gaya or not is a matter of investigation,” Sharma said. He also revealed that raids would be conducted at he various places where the accused had been hiding so far. Earlier this month, three more JMB suspects — Paigamber Sheikh, 24, Jamirul Sheikh, 31 and Ahmed Ali alias Kalu were arrested from Bengal’s Murshidabad and Darjeeling districts. According to police sources, they revealed the name of Alam during interrogation. A low intensity bomb blast took place near Kalchakra ground in Bodh Gaya on 19 January when the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama was present in town. A couple of crude bombs and large quantity of explosives were also recovered from the place. National Investigating Agency (NIA) is primarily probing the blast case.