Jamaat-ul Mujahideen (JMB), had set up 20-22 hideouts in Bengaluru and conducted a trial of rocket launchers in Krishnagiri Hills along the Karnataka border, reports The Times of India on October 15. Moreover NIA Inspector General Alok Mittal said NIA had registered 28 cases of Indian youths influenced by Islamic State (IS) since 2014 and arrested as many as 127 people from across 14 states. Tamil Nadu tops the list with 33 arrests. Earlier SATP reported that JMB has increased its activities in Bihar, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka and several arrested persons belonging to IS had confessed to be radicalised by hate speeches of Zakir Naik.
Another report of The Times of India on October 15 says NIA chief's alert on JMB "intensifying" its activities in Odisha assumes significance as the state has a large population of Bangladeshi migrants settled mostly in coastal Kendrapada District. In March 2015, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had informed the Assembly that 3,987 infiltrators lived in the state and that all of them were Bangladeshis. Citing a survey, he had said the largest number of Bangladeshi infiltrators were found living in Kendrapara District (1,649), followed by 1,112 in Jagatsinghpur District. Recently, the Union ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) had forwarded to the Registrar General of India a suggestion from Mohit Aggarwal, the Orissa high court's amicus curiae in a wetland protection case, seeking the creation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Kendrapada District.
Four JMB suspects are allegedly hiding in Odisha, reports the Times of India on October 15. "We are alert to the NIA's information and are keeping a vigilant eye on activities of four JMB suspects in Odisha," an unnamed Police officer said without disclosing more on the suspects. Despite there was no terror attacks in the state so far, there had been a few examples of militant groups’ influence. The NIA had arrested a Kendrapada-native, identified as Habibur Rahaman from the national capital Delhi airport in August 2018 for his alleged links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). On February 17, 2016, police arrested five suspected Students Islamic Movements of India (SIMI) operatives from Rourkela (Sundargarh District). On December 16, 2015, Odisha police arrested Abdul Rehman for his suspected al-Qaeda link from Cuttack district.