GUWAHATI: The Special Task Force of Assam Police arrested eight operatives of terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) during simultaneous operations carried out in Kerala, West Bengal and Assam on the intervening night of December 17 and 18. The module was working to establish sleeper cells across the country, particularly in Assam and West Bengal.
One of them, Md Sad Radi alias Md Shab Sheikh, is a Bangladeshi national who was arrested in Kerala. Two others hail from West Bengal and the remaining five are from Assam.
Led by STF Assam chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta, “Operation Praghat” was carried out with the active assistance of Kerala and West Bengal Police.
The Assam police said the operation was launched based on intelligence inputs about clandestine anti-national activities being carried out by a group of individuals under the direction of one Md Farhan Israk, a close associate of ABT chief Jasimuddin Rahmani. ABT is an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
The police said the Bangladeshi national was sent to India in November to spread their “nefarious ideology” and create sleeper cells across the country. He visited Assam and West Bengal to meet ABT’s sleeper-cell activists before moving to Kerala for the same purpose.
Apart from him, the others arrested were Minarul Sheikh, Md Abbas Ali (both from West Bengal), Nur Islam Mandal, Abdul Karim Mandal, Mojibar Rahman, Hamidul Islam and Enamul Hoque (all from Assam).
“The incriminating documents and mobile phones with technical evidence seized from the arrested accused indicate their continuous communication across the border with Bangladesh and Pakistan-based entities over the last couple of months,” the Assam police said.
“These sleeper cells were intended to serve as covert operational units, poised for subversive and violent activities,” the police said, adding the arrested persons played a pivotal role in aiding Md Sad Radi in his mission to identify, recruit and indoctrinate individuals who share or were inclined to similar fundamentalist ideologies.
“By exploiting local vulnerabilities, religious sentiments and fault lines, they aimed to create a network capable of operating under the radar while remaining loyal to the broader objectives of their organization, to create disruption and chaos in India,” the Assam police further said.