The eight terror suspects arrested by the Assam STF with help from Bengal and Kerala police
A terrorist from Bangladesh who is a member of an Al-Qaeda affiliate in the Indian subcontinent was among eight terrorists arrested by the Assam Police's Special Task Force (STF) from Kerala.
Bangladesh national Md Sad Radi aka Md Shab Seikh, 32, came to India in November to activate sleeper cells in Assam and West Bengal, before he moved to Kerala, the STF said in a statement.
The STF said they worked with the police in Kerala and Bengal, and launched 'Operation Praghat' with reach across India after taking a detailed look into intelligence reports that a group of terrorists working under Md Farhan Israk, an aide of an Al Qaeda-affiliate leader in Bangladesh, would try to activate sleeper cells in India to target members of the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other Hindu organisations.
Md Farhan Israk is very close to Jasimuddin Rahmani, who heads the Ansarullah Bangla Team, an affiliate of the global terror group Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, the STF said.
"It's a major move against jihadi elements. The fact that we could nip this in the bud with the help of central agencies, and with the West Bengal and Kerala Police. I'd call it a success when we get more. But yes, we have made a beginning," Assam Special Director General of Police (DGP) Harmeet Singh told NDTV today.
"Certain apprehensions that were there in the minds of many regarding the situation emanating out of what is happening in Bangladesh and various parts of our western neighbour to destabilise our country, we have managed to make a beginning," Mr Singh said. "So, yes, you could call it a success."
Md Sad Radi met sleeper cells of the banned organisation Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in Assam and Bengal before he headed to Kerala to contact more sleeper cells, the STF said, adding its chief and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Partha Sarathi Mahanta led teams across across the country to arrest the terror suspects.
The STF arrested the eight suspects on the intervening night of December 17-18 during raids conducted simultaneously in Kerala, West Bengal, and Assam.
"These arrests prove the apprehensions about the situation in Bangladesh having some effect in our country... Now, the question is, what were these people planning? From our initial investigation it is very clear that they were planning violent and subversive activities, assassinations, to disrupt communal harmony, to create a situation where society would be ruptured, and also they were looking at destabilising this region," Mr Singh, the Special DGP, told NDTV.
"But the fact that Sad Radi moved from Bengal and Assam to Kerala - we got him in Kerala - indicates that their plans were a lot larger than just Assam and Bengal," Mr Singh said.
The other seven arrested terror accused have been identified as Minarul Sheikh, 40; Md Abbas Ali, 33; Nur Islam Mandal, 40; Abdul Karim Mandal, 30; Mojibar Rahman, 46; Hamidul Islam, 34 yrs, and Enamul Haque, 29.
Nur Islam Mandal along with Mazibur Rahman visited several locations across West Bengal as part of their concerted efforts which were strategically aimed at influencing and recruiting youth to join terrorist organisations such as ABT and AQIS, the STF said in the statement.
Several meetings were held in Bengal's Murshidabad and Falakata, where Nur Islam Mandal and his associates deliberated extensively on targeting members of the RSS and other Hindu groups, the STF said.
During these meetings, they devised plans to assassinate prominent religious and Hindu leaders; the motive behind these actions was to incite religious tensions and disturbances, aiming to disrupt communal harmony and destabilise the region, the STF said.