Bangladeshi among five jihadis arrested by Assam Police

OUR BUREAU

GUWAHATI/BARPETA: The police arrested five jihadis, including a Bangladeshi national, for their link with the Al-Qaeda from Howli, Barpeta and Kalgachia police stations. Their motto is to make the Barpeta District a jihadi hub to indoctrinate a section of sar dwellers. The police produced the five before the court that sent them to police custody.

DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said, "Apart from the NIA (National Investigation Agency), international investigating agencies will have their role in the investigation since one of the five is a Bangladeshi national. Apart from this, the arrested five have Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-continent (AQIS) link.

"Though this group is trying their best to indoctrinate a section sar dwellers, I feel they cannot succeed as the Muslims of Assam will not heed to them."

The Barpeta Police apprehended the five people on Friday night. A preliminary investigation revealed that Saiful Islam alias Harun Rashid alias Mohammad Suman, a Bangladesh citizen hailing from Otadi Village, Narayanganj in the neighbouring country, illegally entered India. He was working as a teacher at Dhakaliapara Masjid. He had successfully indoctrinated and motivated the other four – Khairul Islam (27), Badshah Suleiman Khan (28), Nausad Ali (40) and Taimur Rahman Khan (54) – to join the module of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) to make the Barpeta district a jihadi base.

The Barpeta Police filed a case (268/2022 u/s 120(B)/121 (A), Passport Act 1968 R/W Section 14(A) (B) of Foreigners Act 1946) against the five. They used code languages with sophisticated electronic devices. The police also seized some videos provoking people to sacrifice in the name of Allah.

According to sources, the police received intelligence inputs regarding the jihadi activities in the state in September last. They got an al-Qaeda video calling for a jihadi movement in Assam.

The police alerted all SPs and told them to gear up their ground sources at the district levels. The police asked their intelligence machinery to brief them on the threat perception, sources added.

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