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Banned terror group ABT was targeting Bengal’s Chicken’s Neck, finds probe
The ABT was behind the murder of multiple bloggers between 2013 and 2015 and was also behind the Ashulia bank heist in which eight people were killed
The Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a banned Islamist terror group of Bangladesh, which had set up sleeper cells in West Bengal, was targeting the Siliguri Corridor popularly known as Chicken’s Neck, for their anti-national activities, according to sleuths of the West Bengal Police’s Special Task Force.
This came to light after police in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala busted sleeper cells of the banned terror group in the three states and arrested eight persons on Wednesday.
Officials in the West Bengal STF said that they were already working on a tip off about some members of the banned terror group setting up sleeper cells in the state and trying to recruit local youths.
“Three days ago, officers from the Assam STF contacted us. They had input that two members of the ABT were running a sleeper cell in Murshidabad district. On December 18 the STFs of two states conducted a joint raid and arrested two persons,” said a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.
The ABT was banned in at least four countries – India, Bangladesh, UK and USA – between 2013 and 2015. The group was behind the murder of multiple bloggers between 2013 and 2015 and was also behind the Ashulia bank heist in which eight people were killed.
The primary objective of the sleeper cells was to encourage local youths in anti-National activities and recruit them. They were also arranging arms and ammunitions. The sleeper-cell was primarily active in Murshidabad and Alipurduar districts.
“Their prime target was the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken’s Neck which serves as the gateway to the north-eastern states,” said another IPS officer aware of the developments.
The Chicken’s Neck is a narrow strip of land in north Bengal which connects the seven sisters in the northeast (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) to the rest of the country. The area has a width of around 20 km and length of 60 km. It is close to the international borders with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
While five persons have been arrested in Assam, two were arrested from West Bengal and one from Kerala.
The two, who were arrested from West Bengal, were identified as Minarul Sheikh, 48 and Md Abbas Ali, 29. They are both residents of Hariharpara in Murshidabad. While Sheikh recently opened a madrasah, Ali works as a motor-pump mechanic. Ali was earlier arrested in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case for sexually assaulting a girl in 2018. He had been in jail for two years and was out on bail.
Police have recovered a 16 GB pen-drive, mobile phones, fake identity cards and multiple books from their houses during the raid. They have been taken to Assam by the STF.
“A team of Bengal STF has already reached Assam to interrogate the accused persons. Only after a thorough interrogation would we be able to know how far and how deep their roots have penetrated. Investigation is still in the preliminary stage,” said the second IPS officer.
