KOLKATA: The Central government has sought a detailed report on action taken by the Mamata Banerjee government to counter the tentacles spread by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) recruiters and sleeper agents in West Bengal.
In a letter sent to the West Bengal Police headquarters at Lalbazar in Kolkata, the Union home ministry stated that the number of ISIS sympathisers in the State has grown exponentially in the recent times and the international terrorist organisation has been recruiting youngsters from specific districts, which are also being used as safe haven of ISIS operatives across the border.
The letter also stated that the sympathisers from West Bengal are maintaining regular contacts with handlers based in ISIS capital in Raqqa, Syria.
The Union home ministry asked the West Bengal government to make a detailed report about the top suspected leaders, sleeper agents and the organisation's areas of influence in the State. The West Bengal government's action to tackle the terrorist organisation's influence has also been sought in the report.
According to sources, nabbed ISIS operative from West Bengal, Md Masiruddin alias Musa al-Bengali, a native of Labhpur in Birbhum district, revealed about the extensive ISIS network in the State to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during interrogation. The agency has sent a report to the home ministry.
Sources revealed that the NIA claimed that Musa's arrest on July 4 last year put a temporary halt on ISIS activities in West Bengal, which soon regained momentum a few months later. The home ministry has stated that the ISIS is working in Bangladesh and eastern India under the guardianship of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).