New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested one more accused from West Bengal in connection with a terror conspiracy orchestrated by an offshoot of the proscribed terrorist organisation Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an official said.
Several digital devices, including mobile phones and memory cards, were seized from the possession of the accused during the arrest, the NIA official said in a statement.
The arrest follows the arrest of 13 accused persons on September 29, after searches conducted at 16 locations across Assam, West Bengal and Kerala in connection with the same conspiracy.
Earlier, on June 25, the NIA filed a chargesheet against 11 accused before the NIA Special Court, Guwahati (Assam), under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The NIA investigation revealed the involvement of the accused in a conspiracy hatched by Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK), an offshoot of JMB, to spread the banned outfit’s extremist ideology and expand its terrorist network in West Bengal and the north-eastern states of India.
The conspiracy involved the radicalisation of vulnerable youth, the propagation of extremist ideology and the recruitment of individuals into the organisation, the NIA said.
The investigation revealed that Imam Mahmud Habibullah, a senior member of JMB, had established IMK with the objective of promoting the banned organisation’s agenda in India, the NIA said.
The accused allegedly conspired to expand the activities of IMK/JMB through clandestine meetings, religious indoctrination programmes, circulation of extremist literature and misuse of digital platforms, including Telegram, for radicalisation and dissemination of anti-India propaganda, the statement said.
They also sought to promote allegiance to the leadership of IMK/JMB and strengthen the organisation’s network in India, it said.
The NIA said that it is carrying out further investigation in case RC-01/2026/NIA/GUW to find other aspects of the larger conspiracy.
–IANS
rch/uk