Assam Police's STF Arrests Two Additional Members of Al-Qaeda-Linked Ansarullah Bangla Team

Guwahati, Dec 25 (NationPress) The Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police has apprehended two additional members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a terror organization from Bangladesh affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a senior police official reported.

Assam Police's Special Director General of Police Harmeet Singh stated that Abdul Zaher Sheikh and Sabbir Mirdha were taken into custody from Namapara in Kokrajhar district on Tuesday night.

With the detention of these two ABT members, the STF achieved a significant milestone in preventing a potential major terror incident orchestrated by fundamentalist or Jihadi factions of a Global Terrorist Organisation (GTO), he informed the media.

Previously, eight ABT operatives had been detained across Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala.

Interrogations of the detainees led to the recovery of a substantial cache of arms, ammunition, and other military-grade items from the hideout of one of the apprehended individuals.

The confiscated arsenal includes four handmade rifles resembling AK-47s, 34 rounds of live ammunition, 24 blank cartridges, a pair of live un-primed IEDs with cortex, a handmade grenade containing explosives, a detonator circuit crafted from agricultural tools, 14 electronic switches, and three iron cases used for assembling IEDs, along with 20 iron pieces and plates designed for maximum damage and destruction.

The STF, as part of 'Operation Praghat', had previously detained eight ABT operatives on the night of December 17-18 across Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala.

Among these eight, five were arrested in Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts of Assam, two in West Bengal, and one Bangladeshi national in Kerala.

The Bangladeshi national, Muhammad Sad Radi a.k.a. Md Shab Seikh (32), hails from Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and was apprehended in Kerala.

According to the Special DGP, the eight individuals were handlers operating from Pakistan and Bangladesh, aiming to establish sleeper cells in various regions of India, planning to target leaders from the Hindu community and RSS, in addition to executing violent and subversive activities within the country.

The Special DGP mentioned that 'Operation Praghat' was initiated in November following a thorough analysis of intelligence regarding clandestine anti-national undertakings conducted by a group directed by Md Farhan Israk, a close associate of Jasimuddin Rahmani.

According to police reports, Rahmani is the chief of ABT.

This operation was conducted under the direct oversight of STF Chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta.

Earlier this month, the Assam Police STF also detained five members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a terrorist organization linked to Pakistan, from Kokrajhar and Dhubri.

Four JeM operatives were arrested in Kokrajhar district, while one linkman was taken into custody in Dhubri district, a police officer reported.