Al-Qaeda recruited, indoctrinated several people from remote areas of state: Assam Police

Assam police on Thursday accessed some significant information about the plan of Al-Qaeda in the wake of the arrest of two Imams arrested from Goalpara district,

A senior official of Assam police informed that six Bangladeshi terrorists who entered Assam a few years back had targeted people of Char areas (the sandbars or small sandy islands) and some remote areas dominated by the Muslim community people.

As per the information accessed by the Assam police, the Bangladeshi terrorists linked with AQIS/ABT had recruited many people in the state and indoctrinated many others.

Out of six Bangladeshi terrorists linked with AQIS/ABT, the Assam police had arrested one terrorist and five others are still absconding and the police are in their best job to catch them.

Earlier, the Goalpara district police arrested two Imams linked with Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from the lower Assam district and they have been identified as Abdus Subhan, Imam of Tinkunia Shantipur Mosque under Mornoi police station and Jalaluddin Sheikh, Imam of Tilapara Natun Mosque under Matia police station in Goalpara district.

Two of the six Bangladeshi terrorists had stayed in the Char areas of Goalpara district for the last 2-3 years.

VV Rakesh Reddy, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Goalpara district told ANI that, regarding the Jihadi arrest that happened three days before in Goalpara, their links have been actively found with Barpeta and Morigaon modules of AQIS/ABT.

“Subsequently we searched their houses and found incriminating materials like Jihadi materials, books, pamphlets, posters, phones in broken condition, SIM cards. Further interrogation is going on. We have gotten some evidence which will come up subsequently after collaborating with local sources and also further interrogation. Few of them were already recruited by these persons into the Al-Qaeda network. We are trying to catch all of them and alert other districts also,” VV Rakesh Reddy said.

The police official said that names of a few areas have come up during the investigation and these areas are Char and some areas near Tilapara. Police will carry out more interrogations as the case is complex.

“In Phakhiura Char area we have found some places where the absconding Bangladeshi Jihadis had stayed in last 2-3 years time and those places have also raided and found one of those houses where they stayed earlier last year and we have found other materials related to Jihadi propaganda. We are not only focusing on that area, there might be a few other areas also,” VV Rakesh Reddy said.

The SP of Goalpara district further said that they have formed a special interrogation team in Goalpara district and they are trying to gather as much information as possible. He also informed that there may be the possibility of some more arrests soon.