Guwahati, Aug 25: Amidst a relentless crackdown by the state police force on terror modules, Assam director-general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta on Thursday warned against an “international conspiracy” to carry out fundamentalist activities in the state.
The warning comes after yet another person, identified as Abdus Sobahan, from Gobindapur in Goalpara district, and allegedly linked with the terror outfits such as the Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based group, Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), was arrested from Bongaigaon district on Thursday.
The arrested person is currently under interrogation at Dudhnoi police station.
The arrest comes after Goalpara district police recently arrested two “imams”, allegedly linked with AQIS and ABT.
Speaking to mediapersons after chairing a key meeting in Goalpara with the superintendents of police of Goalpara, Barpeta, and Bongaigaon districts, the DGP cautioned people to be careful in the appointment of imams (clerics) in mosques and teachers in madrassas of the state.
“This process of random appointment of such imams in mosques and teachers in madrassas has to stop even as we have received support from the Muslim community in regard to thwart such fundamentalist elements. The person arrested today is a contractor and we have found incriminating documents from his residence, which indicate that there is a serious conspiracy to carry out fundamentalist activities in the state,” Mahanta said.
Throwing light on the modus operandi of the so-called fundamentalists, the DGP informed that the arrested persons are involved in the creation of secret groups and was working in an organised way, albeit cut-off from other fundamentalist groups
“Several fundamentalists have been arrested so far in Madhya Pradesh and in Bengal and we are trying to establish if they have any links with those arrested in Assam. As of now, we can say that this is an international ‘jihadi’ plan to enter Assam and spread terror in the state. These groups are training youths and making them ready for future,” Mahanta said.
Earlier this month, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had appealed to the people of the state to immediately report to the nearest police station if they come across “any so-called madrassa teachers, and even Imams of mosques, who are not from the state or whose antecedents are not known.”