GUWAHATI, March 11 � Though militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujaheedin, Bangladesh (JMB) did not indulge in any kind of violence in Assam, a disturbing fact has recently come to light as the outfit managed to send a few bombs from Assam to Bangladesh by taking advantage of the porous international border.
Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told The Assam Tribune that recently security forces in Bangladesh managed to recover a few improvised explosive devices (IED) with information provided by the Indian security agencies. During investigation, it was found that the IEDs were sent through Assam. However, it is still not known whether the IEDs were prepared in Assam or were brought from West Bengal and transhipped to the neighbouring country through Assam.
Sources pointed out that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other security agencies managed to recover a number of IEDs prepared in Burdwan area of West Bengal and it was also established that a number of persons from Assam received training at JMB bases in Burdwan. But it is still not known whether the bombs sent to Bangladesh through Assam were prepared at the bases of the outfit in Burdwan or in Assam.
MHA sources admitted that the JMB could not establish strong roots in Assam, but a long-term threat cannot be overlooked. For the last three years or so, the Assam Police was aware that something was brewing as, following the ethnic clashes in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) in 2012, there were some reports that fundamentalist forces might try to take advantage of the situation. However, so far, the main aim of the JMB is to create trouble in Bangladesh and the Prime Minister of that country is viewed as the prime target of the outfit.
Sources pointed out that from the investigations and arrest of key JMB operatives in Assam including Shahanur Alom, it was found that the outfit was concentrating mostly in the districts of Barpeta and Goalpara and they were trying to establish roots in Assam. However, it is still not known whether the outfit hatched any plan to create disturbances in Assam.
