Bardhaman blast case: Bangladesh arrests 3 more suspects

DHAKA: Three more suspects have been arrested here in connection with the blast in West Bengal's Bardhaman, amid a joint India-Bangla operation along the borders to nab over 100 militants of the outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
"The three are members of JMB. We are suspecting that they have links with bomb-making (materials) discovered after the explosions in Bardhaman," a senior official of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told reporters on Monday.
Deputy commissioner Masudur Rahman briefly said three JMB activists have been arrested from the capital last night and the details would be disclosed later at a press briefing here.
Another official familiar with the arrest said the three suspected militants were arrested along with some explosives.
The arrest came shortly after a Bangladeshi security team returned home after sharing info on the issue with officials in India. Earlier, an National Investigation Agency (NIA) from India delegation visited Dhaka.
A member of the Bangladesh delegation that returned home yesterday told reporters that law enforcement agencies of the two countries already launched simultaneous drives in their territories to capture over a hundred JMB operatives in line with a decision taken during the NIA team's Bangladesh visit.
"The drives are being carried out following the exchange of concrete information between investigators of the two neighbours regarding operatives of the banned outfit in India and Bangladesh," the official told the Daily Star newspaper.
He said JMB militants who crossed the border are already on the run as Indian investigators are desperately looking for them after the Bardhaman blast.
On October 2, two suspected JMB operatives were killed and another injured in an explosion at a house in Bardhaman area, bordering Bangladesh.
Earlier, Bangladesh police said they had arrested five operatives of JMB including its women front chief and wife of alleged key mastermind of the Bardhaman blast Sajid under an intensified campaign against Islamists.