Guwahati, Dec 26: The Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police averted another possible terror attack by arresting two more operatives of terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) during an operation at Namapara under Kokrajhar police station in lower Assam.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Zaher Sheikh, a resident of Joypur Namapara, in Kokrajhar district and Sabbir Mirdha, a resident of Ramfalbil Bazar under Serfanguri police station of Kokrajhar district.
In the course of interrogation and search operations, as per Section 23 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), a huge cache of arms and ammunition and other war-like items were recovered from the hideout of one of the arrested accused persons.
The arrest comes barely a week after the STF had unearthed a terror module by arresting eight fundamentalists from three states, including a Bangladeshi national.
The STF team was assisted by Kerala and West Bengal police in the crackdown, termed ‘Operation Praghat,’ which was launched simultaneously at specified locations in three stated during the intervening night of December 17 and 18, 2024.
The recovered arms and ammunition along with other war-like items include four handmade rifles; rounds of live ammunition; 24 rounds of blank cartridges; a pair of live un-primed IED with cortex; a handmade grenade with explosives; one circuit of detonators made out of agriculture equipment; 14 electronic switches; three iron cases used for making of IEDs with 20 iron pieces and plates for causing maximum damage/destruction and a huge number of switches and wires with explosives used in fire crackers along with other incriminating items.
Notably, ABT is a militant group associated with global terror organisation, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).