A member of the CID’s bomb disposal squad hides behind his colleague and another against a Tata Sumo as crude bombs seized from the duo are detonated on a field outside Siliguri. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Aug. 1: A Delhi po- lice team arrested two youths, one of them a Bangladeshi, from New Jalpaiguri late last night for their alleged involvement in low-intensity blasts in the capital earlier this year.

Five crude bombs, an improvised firearm and two live cartridges were found on them.

“Yasin is a Bangladeshi who had been staying in the New Jalpaiguri area illegally,” said a senior Jalpaiguri police officer.

Sources in Delhi said Mohammad Yasin and Mohammad Meheruddin had no link with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad or Bangalore. But they were said to be behind a series of small explosions across south Delhi.

Sleuths swooped on the two while following leads provided by Mohammad Hakim, who was arrested from New Delhi railway station on Tuesday.

According to an officer of the Delhi team who was part of last night’s raid, Hakim, too, is from Bangladesh.

“Hakim told us he used to stay in Bhaktinagar, Siliguri. During his stay, he came in touch with Yasin and Meheruddin, who lived somewhere in New Jalpaiguri,” the officer said.

A senior Jalpaiguri officer, however, said Yasin and Meheruddin were “nothing but petty criminals”.

“The duo have admitted taking part in several petty crimes like smuggling and burglary in Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri. But they had never committed any big crime,” the officer said.

Jalpaiguri inspector-general Zulfikar Hassan said: “Officials of various agencies are questioning them, but till now we have nothing on them regarding links with terrorists.”

The two were taken to the Jalpaiguri court, where Delhi police appealed for their transit remand. However, Yasin and Meheruddin were sent to police remand for a week.

The Delhi police team will jointly interrogate the two with Bengal police, Hassan said.