Bengal Intelligence Agencies Heightened Alert Over 'Outsiders' Renting Rooms Near Bangladesh Frontier
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Kolkata, Dec 12 (NationPress) Intelligence agencies, encompassing both central and state levels, are currently on high alert in West Bengal following reports regarding a sudden influx of outsiders renting rooms in several villages located near the international borders with Bangladesh.
Sources indicate that the majority of these newcomers are individuals aged between their mid-twenties and early thirties. According to information gathered by the security agencies from local residents, these unfamiliar faces seldom engage in conversation with the community.
This situation, sources reveal, has raised alarms among security and intelligence agencies for two primary reasons: firstly, there are reports of attempts by Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HUT) activists to establish sleeper cells at various locations within the bordering districts of West Bengal adjacent to Bangladesh.
Secondly, with the onset of winter, illegal crossings through the porous borders tend to increase, exploiting the thick fog that blankets these remote border areas after nightfall.
These two concerns, along with the prevailing tensions in neighboring Bangladesh, have led security and central agencies to enhance surveillance along both the land and maritime borders, compounded by the influx of outsiders to these bordering villages.
Sources further report that central intelligence and security agencies are consistently briefing their senior officials in New Delhi as well as the Union Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the recent developments in the India-Bangladesh border villages of West Bengal.
Furthermore, intelligence agencies have received specific information that two active HUT affiliates recently arrived in West Bengal with valid Bangladeshi passports, masquerading as students, and have held discussions with local youths in Malda and Murshidabad districts.
According to intelligence reports, these two HUT operatives initially engaged in conversations with local youths about religious topics and subsequently escalated discussions towards the establishment of sleeper cells in the bordering districts. The two Bangladeshi nationals involved in these interactions have been identified as Ridwan Maruf and Sabbir Amir.
