Guwahati: One of the most wanted accused in Burdwan blast case, Sahanur Alam (32) alias Doctor alias Illius was arrested by the Special Operation Union (SOU) of Assam police from Larkuchi in Nalbari district of Assam on Friday night.
“Though Sahanur was not an expert militant in respect of use of weapons and ammunition, his arrest is very important for us because he was well-trained motivator. He used to frequent West Bengal areas.
He was hiding in various locations in Meghalaya and Assam close to India-Bangladesh border with intention to cross the border but could not do so.
Finally, he was arrested from Larkuchi under Mukalmua police station in Nalbari district,” the DGP of Assam Police Khagen Sarma informed on Saturday afternoon.
Police had earlier declared Rs five lakh reward for information about where about of Sahanur, who, the
DGP said, had close rapport with top leaders of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) based in Bangladesh
and West Bengal.
He said Larkuchi had some active jihadi opera-tives and was visited by some top-ranking leaders of the JMB from Bangladesh. “We were expecting that once cornered Sahanur who is not an illegal Bangladeshi
migrant but an Indian citizen, might come to Larkuchi,” the top cop said.
Assam police is on the lookout for five more key JMB operatives in Assam while it has already arrested
nine more JMB operatives in addition to Sahanur whose wife Suzena Begum (22), also a JMB operative, had been arrested earlier and now in judicial custody.
The eight other JMB operatives who have been already arrested by Assam police were: Rafikul Islam (39), Shiraj Ali Khan (53), Shaikhul Islam Khan (20), Jahuruddin (60), Golam Osmani (23), Sarbesh Ali (35), Zakaria Ali (40), Saburuddin Ahmed (37).
Though the JMB hasn’t been able to set up any operational training module in Assam, it has been doing
motivational training in the state for over a year. Hitherto the outfit is not potent enough to strike terror in Assam on its own, but police it not taking it lightly.
“We are not taking JMB’s motivational modules in Assam lightly because local modules can always get people from outside and give logistic support to create violence in the state,” the DGP said.
He claimed jihadi elements had managed to take cover in only a handful of madrassas in Assam where local Muslim population have come out openly against jihadi activities.
Youth from riot-affected and communally vulnerable areas stood susceptible to be trapped by jihadi organizations.
