Another AQIS member with links to Ansarul Bangla arrested

A member of the banned Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) with suspected links to Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT) was apprehended in Goalpara district in Assam on Friday, the second such arrest on two consecutive days, police said.

This is also the fourth arrest of members of the AQIS, an affiliate of the international terror outfit Al-Qaeda, from the district in a week, district superintendent of police V V Rakesh Reddy said.

The arrested person has been identified as Hafizur Rahman, a teacher of Kabaitari Ma Arif Madrasa in Bongaigaon and a resident of Goalpara. He was allegedly involved in recruiting youths to the AQIS from the area and also had links with members of ABT, Reddy said.

The accused person was produced before a local court and remanded to police custody for five days. The other person, identified as Abdus Sobahan hailing from Goalpara district, was arrested from neighbouring Bongaigaon district on Thursday for similar links and was also remanded to five days' police custody.

Two Islamic clerics, also suspected to be members of the terror outfit, were arrested on August 21 from Goalpara for allegedly radicalising Muslim youths and being involved in "jihadi activities in the last three-four years", the police said. Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta held a meeting with IGP (Western Range) Dilip Kumar De and superintendents of police of Goalpara, Barpeta and Bongaigaon districts here on Thursday after the arrest of Abdus Sobhahan.

He later told reporters that the three arrested from the district were found to have connections with several persons involved in jihadi activities. They were apprehended in the state earlier and another was held in West Bengal. “We are investigating whether they have links with those arrested in Madhya Pradesh earlier this year. It has been established that there are sleeper cells of the AQIS in the districts where training is imparted to youths to radicalise them. Some jihadi literature and posters have been recovered,” Mahanta said.

During the investigation it was found that a few Imams came from outside the state and set up madrasas in minority-dominated areas. The authorities of the districts have been directed to keep strict vigil on such activities, he said. "A madrasa cannot come up in an area without the permission of the authorities concerned. Necessary rules and regulations have to be followed," he said.

The DGP said that people belonging to the Muslim community are cooperating with the administrations of the districts to arrest persons who are allegedly involved in jihadi activities. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently said that Assam has become a "hotbed of jihadi activities" and five modules having links with Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarul Islam were busted in five months.

The Assam police have arrested around 40 people since March this year for being allegedly involved in jihadi activities and a strict vigil is being maintained, particularly in the minority-dominated areas of lower and central Assam.