NIA starts probe into jihadi network; Section of madrassas and city areas on police radar

Guwahati: Following the arrest of 10 jihadi activists in the last 48 hours, including a madrassa teacher named Mustafa Mufti, from the Morigaon and Barpeta districts, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started investigating the jihadi network in Assam.

An NIA team visited Morigaon on Friday and grilled Mustafa Mufti regarding his links with the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). Meanwhile, the Morigaon police last night arrested another person for jihadi links, one Asfaruddin Bhuiyan.

Both Mufti and Bhuiyan were today produced in a local court, which remanded them to 12 days' police custody.

Concurrently with the commencement of the NIA's investigation, the Assam Police is keeping a close watch on a section of private madrassas and some specific areas of the state, including Hatigaon in the city.

It may be mentioned that the police had arrested one person named Sahanur Alam for jihadi links from Hatigaon. Alam is originally from Barpeta. Subsequently, the police detained four more persons from the Hatigaon area last night. They were working as masons and labourers in the city.

Police sources said that strict surveillance is being maintained on members of a certain community who are staying in certain pockets of the city and working as daily-wage earners.

The sources said that around two years ago the city police had untaken a drive to collect the names and antecedents of this section of daily-wage earners who were staying in the city after coming here from other districts. However, this drive was later halted.

Meanwhile, sources in the Morigaon police said that Asfaruddin Bhuiyan used to stay in Mumbai and collect funds for Mustafa Mufti. The police will now investigate details of Bhuiyan's activities in Mumbai and the people he used to associate with there.

The sources said they have already collected the bank account details of Mustafa Mufti and the persons with whom he has had transactions will also be investigated.

Also read: Jehadi link: Madrassa teacher among 10 held by Assam Police

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