Guwahati, Feb 4: The Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF), as part of its operation ‘Praghat’, has arrested one more cadre of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a Bangladesh-based terror group affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), officials said on Tuesday.
With the latest arrest, the STF so far arrested 15 associates of the ABT from Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. An Assam Police spokesman said that aimed at dismantling fundamentalist networks and Global Terrorist Organisations (GTO) across the country, the STF personnel with active assistance from Kokrajhar Police apprehended a key operative, Nasim Uddin SK, from Kokrajhar District on Monday.
He said that Nasim Uddin has been identified as an active member of the ABT and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JAM). The detainee was a close associate of the prime accused Nur Islam Mandal, who was previously arrested for his involvement in extremist activities in the same case by STF from Kokrajhar.
Since the intervening night of December 17 last year, the accused had been evading law enforcement agencies and was on the run, attempting to escape justice, the spokesman said.
He said that the investigations have revealed that the arrested operative was a key conspirator, working closely with Nur Islam Mandal in acquiring weapons and manufacturing IEDs intended to arm and empower extremist factions.
“Their objective was clear, to destabilise national security, disrupt peace, and pose a grave threat to India’s sovereignty. This arrest marks another critical step in dismantling the growing nexus of radical elements who seek to create unrest and jeopardize the integrity of our nation,” the police spokesman added.
Following his production before the Court, the arrested person has been remanded to police custody for seven days. The investigation is ongoing to expose the full extent of the terror network, which has deep-rooted connections across the border, the spokesman said. According to the STF sources, of the 15 detainees, including Bangladeshi nationals, they are working under the direction of Md Farhan Israk, a close associate of Jasimuddin Rahmani, the Chief of ABT.
“The ABT sent one Bangladeshi national Md Sad Radi alias Md Shab Sheikh (32) a resident of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, to India to spread their nefarious ideology amongst like-minded people in the country, the STF sources said. He was apprehended from Kerala in December last year.
“As evidence suggests, their activities were organised with the intent to equip and promote their operational capabilities of extremist groups aiming to destabilise the country’s security and sovereignty,” the sources added. “The investigation has been going on to unearth the whole nexus spreading across the country,” the spokesman said.
He said that under the direction of STF Chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta, ‘Operation Praghat’ has been underway since November last year. Top Assam Police officials earlier said the eight arrested persons were handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
They were working to form ‘sleeper cells’ in different parts of India and there were plans to assassinate leaders belonging to the Hindu community and RSS, besides undertaking violent and subversive activities in India, the officials had said.
IANS