Abu Tahir alias Mohammed Zakaria was held near the Sealdah railway station in the morning after he alighted from a train coming from Lalgola in Murshidabad.

After preliminary investigation, it was revealed that like the 26/11 terrorists, Tahir (45) was trained at the LeT camp in Muridke near Lahore between 1999 and 2000.

“We are investigating why he came to West Bengal,” said Joint Commissioner (STF) Rajiv Kumar. According to STF sources, Tahir has revealed that he received training from LeT man Abdul Karim Tunda. He was their chief explosive man and an expert at assembling bombs. He is said to be directly linked with the Rohtak blasts and the Delhi 2000 blasts at Chandni Chowk and Sadar Bazaar. The train blast at Pakur district in 2002 where over 15 people were injured was also his handiwork, said a STF officer.

Tahir was born in Kathihar in Bihar and then moved to North Dinajpur. In 1986 he moved to Rajsahi in Bangladesh. “He has two passports—Bangladeshi and Indian— in two different names,” said an STF officer.

In Bangladesh, he trained many people in handling explosives and was running a madrasa at present.

The officer also said Tahir has two families, one in Rajsahi and the other in Lahore and has eight children. The STF got hold of leads to Tahir after another LeT operative, Sadiq, was recently held for planning a dacoity in the Narkeldanga area.

Tahir had supplied explosives to Sadiq. Tahir studied in various madrasas in Varanasi and Kishangunj and is fluent in English, Bengali, Urdu, Arabic and Hindi.