Indian national arrested for involvement with Neo JMB

Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police claims to have arrested an Indian national, for her alleged involvement with militant group Neo JMB.

The arrestee is identified as Ayesha Jannat Mohona alias Jannatut Tasnim alias Progga Debnath (25).

Based on information, a team of CTTC unit conducted drive in the capital's Sadarghat and arrested Mohona, SK Imran Hossain, assistant commissioner of CTTC unit, told The Daily Star today.

They also recovered an Indian passport, a Bangladeshi birth certificate, a Bangladeshi National Identity Card and two cell phones from her possession.

In primary interrogation, Mohona said that she is an Indian national and she hailed from Keshabpur village under Hooghly district of West Bengal.

Quoting Mohona, CTTC AC Imran said she converted to Islam while she was a student of class nine in 2009.

"During religious study online, she met with the members of Neo JMB's female wing on different social media platforms. She later met with the Neo JMB female wing chief Asmani Khatun Alias Asma and started working as organisation member," he said.

Since 2016, Mohona has been visiting Bangladesh regularly from India and her job was to collect funds from the group's members staying in different countries, said the official.

AC Imran said that she recently collected a fake birth registration certificate and using the certificate she also collected a Bangladeshi NID card.

"Mohona married Bangladeshi national Amir Hossain Saddam recently over the phone as he is now staying in Oman. As per her husband's suggestion, she started living in Bangladesh from August 10 of last year," he said.

During her stay in Dhaka, she started working as religion teacher at different madrasas in Keraniganj and Narayanganj but she was mainly inviting people to join the militant outfit.

After the CTTC members arrested Neo JMB female wing chief Asmani Khatun on February 5 of this year, Mohona left her job at madrasas and started working on social media platforms to recruit members for the outfit, said Imran.

In last couple of months, she managed to recruit some members for the outfit and also give training to some new female wing members, he said.

A case has been filed against Mohona with Motijheel police station. "We would place Mohona in the court seeking remand to know details of her activities. We are also trying to locate her associates' whereabouts," he added.