JMB married its cadres to Indian girls to recruit their family members: NIA

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which came on the radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after the 2014 bomb blast in West Bengal's Burdwan, had adopted a unique model of making new recruits in India, the agency probe has found.

The NIA claimed that the JMB used to marry its cadres with Indian women to recruit their family members into the terror organisation.

A senior NIA source related to the probe said that the agency has been probing several cases of the Bangladeshi terror outfit, and the JMB came into existence around 2014, but garnered attention after the Burdwan bomb blast.

The blast took place at the first floor of a rented house in the busy Khagragarh locality of Burdwan on October 2, 2014. The IED had accidentally gone off at the time of its fabrication by the members of banned terrorist organisation and the two terrorists had succumbed to their injuries.

The West Bengal Police initially registered a case, and seized 55 improvised explosive devices and some other explosives, along with wristwatch dials and some mobile SIM cards. The NIA took over the probe into the blast case on October 10, 2014 and arrested several people.

The anti-terror probe agency has also filed several charge sheets in connection with the JMB case for for committing terrorist acts and waging war against the governments of India and Bangladesh.

Explaining the modus operandi of the JMB for recruiting youths in the terror organisation, the source said that JMB cadres targeted the youths from poor and marginalised background who could be radicalised easily.

"The other modus operandi was that of marrying the cadres with the Indian girls," he said.

The source said that the JMB cadres use to run madarasas in several parts of West Bengal and from there, they use to identify the girls to marry with their cadres. He said that when the girls were married with their cadres, the other family members of the girls were also recruited into the terror organisation.

Asked about number of girls married to the JMB cadres, the source said that currently they don't have the exact data as a number of cases are also being investigated by the local police.

In February this year, an NIA court in Kolkata sentenced JMB chief Kausar to 29 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 35,000 in connection with the case.

The NIA probe has till date revealed a conspiracy by JMB to radicalise, recruit and provide training in arms and explosives to its members in India for committing terrorist acts and waging war against the established governments of India and Bangladesh. The NIA during the probe also seized a large number of IEDs, explosives, hand grenades, and training videos.

After extensive investigation, a total of 33 accused were charge sheeted by NIA for commission of various offences in this case. Out of 33 accused, 31 were arrested. Earlier, 30 accused persons were convicted and sentenced, to various terms, by the NIA Special Court, Kolkata.