Assam STF Arrests Additional Member of Al Qaeda-Linked Ansarullah Bangla Team

Guwahati, Dec 30 (NationPress) The Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police has taken into custody another individual from the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a terror group rooted in Bangladesh and associated with Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), officials reported on Monday.

A representative of the Assam Police stated that as part of 'Operation Praghat', initiated by the STF, the absconding primary suspect, Gazi Rahman (35), was detained with the help of Kokrajhar Police.

“Necessary legal proceedings are being set in motion concerning this case. The STF is diligently working to capture all individuals involved in this matter,” the representative mentioned.

With this recent arrest, the STF has now apprehended a total of 12 associates of the ABT.

On December 27, ABT member Shahinur Islam (36) was arrested from Bandhabpara in Dhubri District, while on December 24 the STF detained Abdul Zaher Sheikh and Sabbir Mirdha from Namapara in Kokrajhar district, recovering a significant stockpile of arms, ammunition, and other military-related items from the hideout of one of the detained individuals.

The STF, as part of Operation Praghat, captured eight ABT operatives during the night of December 17-18 across Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala. Among the eight, five were captured in Assam's Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts, two in West Bengal, and one Bangladeshi national in Kerala.

Of the eight detained, Bangladeshi national Muhammad Sad Radi a.k.a. Md Shab Seikh (32), hailing from Rajshahi, Bangladesh, was captured in Kerala.

Following the interrogation of the eight detainees, the remaining four suspects were arrested in Dhubri and Kokrajhar, which are adjacent to Bhutan and West Bengal.

“With these 12 arrests, the STF has achieved a significant milestone in preventing a potential large-scale terrorist act orchestrated by fundamentalist/Jihadi factions of a Global Terrorist Organisation (GTO),” the spokesperson elaborated.

Assam Police Special Director General Harmeet Singh previously stated that the eight individuals apprehended on December 17-18 were operatives based in Pakistan and Bangladesh. They were attempting to establish 'sleeper cells' in various regions of India with plans to target leaders of the Hindu community and RSS, in addition to conducting violent and subversive activities in India, Singh noted.

The Special DGP mentioned that Operation Praghat was set in motion in November after an extensive and thorough analysis of intelligence concerning the covert anti-national operations being executed by a group of individuals under the command of Md Farhan Israk, a close ally of Jasimuddin Rahmani.

According to police, Rahmani is the ABT Chief.

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

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

Four JeM operatives were captured in Kokrajhar district, while one JeM associate was apprehended in Dhubri district, a police official confirmed.