Suspected Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen terrorist arrested from West Bengal
This comes days after the STF of Assam and West Bengal arrested two suspected terrorists of the banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from Murshidabad district
A suspected terrorist of the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) was arrested from South 24 Parganas in West Bengal on Sunday in a joint raid carried out by the Jammu and Kashmir police and the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal.
This comes days after the STF of Assam and West Bengal arrested two suspected terrorists of the banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from Murshidabad district. He was planning to cross over to Bangladesh.
“A 58-year-old man identified as Javed Ahmed Mushi was arrested from a house at Canning in South 24 Parganas on Sunday. He is a resident of Srinagar and is suspected of having close links with the TuM,” said a senior IPS officer in West Bengal.
A court in Kolkata granted Jammu and Kashmir police the transit remand of Munshi till December 31. He would be taken to Srinagar where he would be produced in court.
Locals said that Munshi’s brother-in-law Golam Mohammed, also a resident of Srinagar, has been selling Kashmiri shawls in Canning area for nearly two decades. He used to come every winter.
“Last month he rented a flat in Canning and had been staying there. Two to three days ago he told the landlord that one of his relatives would be coming from Jammu and Kashmir. The landlord wasn’t aware of anything,” said a police officer.
Munshi is accused of having close links with the militant group and has been recruiting youths. He had come to Canning in South 24 Parganas to sneak out of India and enter Bangladesh through riverine routes, police have come to know after preliminary interrogation.
Canning is located in the Sunderban delta. The Sunderbans forest sprawls over 10,000 sq km across India and Bangladesh, with 40% of it in India. It is home to around 100 tigers. The entire region is crisscrossed by rivers. Crocodiles inhabit these rivers.
The arrest, however, has triggered a slugfest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and its archrival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“In West Bengal a cabinet minister was recently heard saying that the minority community would soon become the majority. What would you expect to find here? Scientists?” Sukanta Majumdar, BJP state president told media.
“The border is guarded by the BSF which comes under the Union home ministry. Earlier the state had become a haven for terrorists. But in the TMC regime police are now arresting such people,” Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.