KOLKATA:Giving a new headache to the central investigative and intelligence agencies, the Islamic State (IS) is attempting to strengthen its roots in West Bengal.
According to a central intelligence agency report, posters were seen in villages of Murshidabad and Nadia districts bordering Bangladesh, but state police were yet to initiate action.
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The Intelligence Bureau’s cyber cell recently conducted a survey on states and cities in the country from where the IS was trying to recruit youth. States that topped the list were Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Among the five top cities, Howrah also figured.
The survey found youth, including women in the 16 to 30 age group, were eager to know about IS through Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube.
At a conference of all state DGPs in New Delhi last month, the National Technical Research Organisation officials said the scenario in West Bengal was disturbing as several youth were preaching and recruiting for the IS through the internet from the state.
The sleuths are worried that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh could be aiding the IS and acting as their recruiting agency. The murder of aid worker Cesare Travella in Dhaka on Monday has made the intelligence officials sit up as the IS militants could infiltrate into West Bengal through the porous border with Bangladesh.