One Bangladeshi, 4 Indian Jihadis Of Al-Qaeda Offshoot Held In Assam: Police

| Updated: 05 March, 2022 4:57 pm IST

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GUWAHATI: Assam Police has busted a large module of terror outfit Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and arrested five people, including a Bangladeshi national, from different places in the state.

A huge cache of jihadi literature and other materials were recovered from the possession of the arrested accused, which shows that they had been recruiting and radicalising innocent youth, the police said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off received over the months by the Special Branch of Assam Police, Barpeta District Executive Force and the Special Branch arrested the five men associated with the terror outfit, which is also known as Ansurallah Bangla Team.

The Bangladeshi national has been identified as Mohammed Suman alias Saiful Islam (40), a resident of Attadi area of Narayanganj district of the neighbouring country. He trespassed into India to radicalise and recruit Indian youths.

Arrested Bangladeshi national, Mohammed Suman alias Saiful Islam (40), is accused of radicalising and recruiting Indian youths for jihad, police said

The other four accused are 28-year-old Badsha Soleman Khan, Noushad Ali (40) and Khairul Islam (27) of Kalgachia area of Barpeta district, and Taimur Rahman Khan (54) of Howly area of the district.

As per the police, the accused floated a private entity, Manas Rhino Techno Pvt Ltd, to camouflage their travel across India and Bangladesh as well as to hold covert meetings, and arrange funds for carrying out jihadi activities in India.

Mohammed Suman, the Bangladeshi national, crossed over to India through the porous India-Bangladesh border with the assistance of agents in West Bengal, the police said citing intelligence inputs.

He met several people sent by the leadership of the outfit in India. He moved to Barpeta district in 2017, the police said, adding that he has recruited several youths from across Assam since then.

“After coming to Assam, he (Mohammed Suman) visited Bangladesh twice illegally. He married a 21-year-old woman in the state, keeping her unaware of his first marriage in Bangladesh. He came in contact with Mahboob and Hasim in Bangladesh who helped him join the terror outfit,” an officer of Assam Police, who was part of the investigation, told The New Indian.

The arrested jihadis were using an extremely sophisticated encryption method based on steganography techniques, called Omemo.