A day after two suspected members of the Bangladeshi militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) were arrested along with an Indian arms dealer by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata police from north Kolkata, a city court on Wednesday remanded them in police custody till December 5.
According to the police, the ABT has “strong linkages with the al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent” and was allegedly involved in the murders of several bloggers in Bangladesh.
“We arrested Riazul Islam alias Riyaz alias Sumon (25) and Samsad Mia alias Tanvir alias Tushar (26), both of whom are Bangladeshi nationals, and Monotosh De alias Mona Da (46), a resident of Bashirhat in North 24 Paraganas district, today [Tuesday] from the Kolkata railway station,” DCP (STF) Murlidhar Sharma said on Tuesday.
Mr. Sharma said the two Bangladeshi nationals “confessed during interrogation” that they have been staying in India for the past 18 months.
As for Monotosh, the police said he is an arms dealer and was contacted by the ABT members for purchasing weapons. “Riazul and Samsad wanted to see samples of arms from Monotosh. He went there [Kolkata railway station] to show them the samples. Upon receiving information about their meeting, our team reached the spot and arrested them,” he said.
“We received specific information from the Intelligence Bureau during Durga Pujo [in late September] that two-three Bangladeshi nationals, who are members of a militant organisation, will enter India,” he said. The STF then launched a large-scale search operation in Kolkata and adjoining satellite towns.
“In the past 25 days, we conducted combing operations at public places like hotels, railway stations, bus stands and also engaged our source network. About three to four days ago, we received specific information about them and also came to know that they were contacting arms dealers and had plans to buy arms,” said Mr. Sharma.
The police have seized a fake Aadhaar card from one of the suspected militants along with several other articles. “We have seized a fake Aadhaar card from Samsad, where he was named as Tushar,” said Mr. Sharma.
The police have also seized “al-Qaeda-related materials, a book on how to prepare explosives and recordings of some speeches, both in Bengali and English, a laptop and a pen drive along with a pistol and a country-made gun”.
Visiting cards of several chemical shops were also seized from the accused. “The two ABT members admitted during interrogation that they visited several chemical shops. The chemicals they were looking for are used in preparing explosives,” said Mr. Sharma.
