Karnataka is among the states that were on Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh's (JMB's) radar for spreading its terror network, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday saying the group had set up 20-22 hideouts in Bengaluru and even conducted trials of rocket launchers in Krishnagiri hills along the state's border with Tamil Nadu.
These inputs were revealed by NIA Director General Y C Modi and Inspector General Alok Mittal during their addresses at a meeting of chiefs of the Anti Terrorism Squads (ATS) here, which was also attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Modi said the JMB has spread its activities in states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the guise of Bangladeshi immigrants. He said a list of 125 suspects linked to the JMB leadership in several states have been prepared and shared with concerned states.
Mittal, who put the number of suspects at 130, said these people were found to be in regular touch with the JMB leadership and operatives. However, they are no prosecutable evidence against them but action has been taken to ensure to frustrate their plans.
He said JMB's Bangladeshi leadership has been sneaking into India since 2007 to recruit, radicalise and train potential terrorists while it set up bases in West Bengal and Assam. This came to light after JMB terrorists were arrested in the Burdwan blast case in 2014.
With the arrests of those involved in Bodh Gaya IED blast case, he said, it also came to light that some JMB operatives had first shifted to Jharkhand after the Burdwan blast case and later to Bengaluru.
Between 2014 and 2018, the JMB set up 20-22 hideouts in Bengaluru where they “re-started” their conspiracy meetings and tried to spread its bases in South India. "The JMB even conducted trials of IED and rocket launchers in the Krishnagiri hills along the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. They conducted tests of rocket launchers at least thrice," he said.
The JMB terrorists also held meetings in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and other locations in Tamil Nadu as well as areas in Kerala, he said, adding the outfit wanted to attack Buddhists temples to take revenge for the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
On the Islamic State, Mittal said 127 people have been arrested in the country for their links with it. A large number of them were influenced by the videos of Mumbai born Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and mastermind of Easter bombings in Sri Lanka Moulvi Zahran Hashmi.