Kolkata: The Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal Police has arrested two persons in Murshidabad district, believed to be part of Ansar-al-Islam Bangladesh, a banned terrorist outfit in Bangladesh. The officials are trying to probe their activities for the outfit. The two accused have been identified as Minarul and Abbas. As per the police, Minarul used to being onion seeds from Assam and give them to farmers. The officials are trying to find out their activities behind the scenes in the name of doing the onion business.
As per officials, it is believed that both were involved in terrorist activities in the guise of onion seed business. Notably, people from Assam also used to visit Minarul’s house from Assam, including Nur Islam and Mujibur Rahman, who were arrested from Assam. The accused used to bring seeds from Assam and sell to farmers in the district. The police also recovered documents and pen drives from the two.
Eight persons of the group held earlier
Earlier, the police had arrested eight persons from Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal. The police believed that the group was planning to target ‘Chicken’s Neck,’ which connects West Bengal’s Siliguri with the Northeastern part of the country. They were alleged to carry out attacks in the corridor and foment instability in the region.
Sharing details, the police further said that it received a tip-off about a sleeper cell of the outfit, which is believed to be active since August. “We have recovered a 16 GB pen drive, some jihadi literature and fake identity cards from the two suspects, identified as Abbas Ali and Minarul Sheikh. We suspect they were part of a sleeper module aiming to create instability in sensitive areas of south and north Bengal and in the seven sister states of the northeast,” news agency PTI quoted the police as saying.
Accused were setting up bases in Murshidabad and Alipurduar districts: Police
It added, “They were setting up bases in Murshidabad and Alipurduar districts, with plans to eliminate prominent Hindu leaders in the eastern and northeastern regions and carry out attacks similar to the 2015 hacking of a blogger in Bangladesh.
