Guwahati, Jan 21, 2025, IANS

Guwahati, Jan 21 (IANS) The Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) has arrested one more associate of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a Bangladesh-based terror group affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), officials said on Tuesday. With the latest arrest, the STF so far arrested 14 associates of the ABT from Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. An Assam Police spokesperson said that the STF as part of its 'Operation Praghat' operation against fundamentalists and Global Terrorist Organisations (GTO) arrested another wanted Jehadi/Islamic extremist identified as Ajibar Rahman (31) from Dhubri, an Assam district, which shares a border with Bangladesh and West Bengal. He said that of the 14 detainees, including Bangladeshi nationals, they are working under the direction of Md Farhan Israk, a close associate of Jasimuddin Rahmani, the Chief of ABT. The ABT sent one Bangladeshi national Md Sad Radi alias Shab Sheikh a resident of Rajshai, Bangladesh, to India to spread their nefarious ideology amongst like-minded people across India. “As evidence suggests their activities were organised with the intent to equip and promote their operational capabilities of extremist groups aiming to destabilise the country's security and sovereignty. The investigation has been going on to unearth the whole nexus spreading across the country,” the spokesman said. He said that under the direction of STF Chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta, Operation Praghat was conducted. On January 18, the STF in a successful operation arrested the most wanted Jihadi/Islamic extremist Jaheer Ali from Dhubri in western Assam. On December 30 last year, ABT cadre and the absconding prime accused, Gazi Rahman (35) was arrested with the assistance of Kokrajhar Police. On December 27 last year, ABT associate Shahinur Islam (36) was arrested from Bandhabpara in Dhubri District while on December 24, the STF arrested Abdul Zaher Sheikh and Sabbir Mirdha from Namapara in Kokrajhar District and a huge cache of arms and ammunition and other war-like items were recovered from the hideout of one of the arrested accused persons. The STF, as part of Operation Praghat on the intervening night of December 17-18, had apprehended eight ABT operatives across Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. Among the eight, five were arrested in Assam's Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts, two in West Bengal, and one Bangladeshi national in Kerala. Of the eight arrests, Bangladeshi national Muhammad Sad Radi alias Md Shab Sheikh (32) was apprehended from Kerala. After the questioning of the eight detainees, the remaining accused persons were arrested from Dhubri and Kokrajhar, bordering Bhutan and West Bengal. "With these 14 arrests, the STF achieved a huge success in averting a possible major terror act by fundamentalist/jihadi elements of a Global Terrorist Organisation (GTO)," the spokesman said. Assam Police Special Director General Harmeet Singh earlier said the eight arrested persons were handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh. They were working to form 'sleeper cells' in different parts of India and there were plans to assassinate leaders belonging to the Hindu community and RSS, besides undertaking violent and subversive activities in India, Singh had said. The Special DGP had said that Operation Praghat under the direct supervision of STF Chief P.S. Mahanta was launched in November 2024 after a detailed and prolonged examination of intelligence input regarding the clandestine anti-national activities being carried out by a group of individuals under the direction of Md Farhan Israk, a close associate of Jasimuddin Rahmani, the ABT Chief. In December last year, the Assam Police STF also arrested five members of the Pakistan-linked terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) from Kokrajhar and Dhubri. Four JeM operatives have been arrested from Kokrajhar district, while one JeM linkman was arrested from Dhubri district, a police officer said.