By PTI

BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency said on Tuesday that it has recovered Improvised Explosive Device materials from the Bengaluru module of Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) which was busted this year.

The items were seized based on the information provided by Jahidul Islam, one of the terror operatives held by the investigation agency, an NIA release said.

These operatives, who carried out the Burdwan blast in 2014, had fled to Bengaluru to escape arrest and carry out the activities of JMB in India, it said.

In Bengaluru, they stayed in Atibele, Kadugodi, KR Puram, Chikka Banavara, Shikaripalya and Electronic City.

The NIA said it found several articles from their Electronic City hideout in Bengaluru, which were meant to be used for preparation of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and grenades.

The items seized included two cuboid shaped batteries wrapped with plastic tape and electrical wire, one capacitor, three switches, one micro lithium cell, a plastic transparent box containing black colour chemical wrapped in a white paper, hand gloves, identity cards, rent agreement of one of the hideouts and handwritten letters in Bengali language.

A digital camera and silver articles looted during dacoities in Bengaluru in 2018 have also been seized by NIA on the basis of information provided by Jahidul Islam, the release said.

The JMB operatives who had holed up in and around Bengaluru had test-fired rocket shells prepared by them using a crude device between June and October, 2017 on a hill in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu bordering Karnataka.

Jahidul Islam, who is in NIA custody from September 19, told interrogators that he along with his accomplices Habibur, Arif (Bangladesh) and Fahim alias Fahad had test fired three rocket shells prepared by them using a crude device and later concealed the remnants of the third test fired rocket shell, the release said.

From this place, NIA seized remnants of explosive materials such as eight batteries of 1.5 volt each, a hollow cylindrical carton used for launching the rocket shell and pieces of electrical wire, according to the release.

From their Chikkabanavara hideout under Soladevanahalli police station limits in the city, the investigation agency had found five improvised hand grenades, three fabricated grenades caps, three IED circuits, one timer device, two rocket bends, one body of jacket, one 9 mm pistol with live rounds, one air gun, suspected explosive powders and other materials on July 8.

After the module was busted in Karnataka, a case was registered at the Soladevananhalli police station in the city.

The NIA took over this case and re-registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act at the NIA police station in New Delhi.

Two persons were killed and another was injured in a bomb explosion at a house in the Khagragarh locality of Burdwan in West Bengal on October 2, 2014.

The JMB was banned by the Bangladesh government in 2005, while India banned it this year in May.