E-Paper
17 Bangladeshi nationals arrested for ‘religious preaching’ in Assam: DGP
On Saturday, police in Biswanath district arrested 17 Bangladeshi nationals, who entered India on tourist visas, on charges of conducting religious events in violation of the provisions of their visa
The 17 Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Assam’s Biswanath district on Saturday were involved in religious preaching, thus violating their visa norms, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said on Sunday.
On Saturday, police in Biswanath district arrested the Bangladeshi nationals, who entered India on tourist visas, on charges of conducting religious events in violation of the provisions of their visa.
“There is a tendency, especially in lower Assam and Barak Valley, to invite maulvis (clerics) from Bangladesh, who arrive on tourist visas and conduct religious preaching. Some of them wrongly use tourist visas and spread radicalisation. We are going to be very strict on this issue,” said Mahanta.
“Fortunately, in Biswanath district, we got a tip-off about 17 Bangladeshis who had come on tourist visas. But when we questioned them, we found that they were engaged in religious preaching, which is not per the terms of their visas. Therefore, they have been arrested for violating visa provisions,” he added.
Mahanta stated that earlier also there have been instances of Bangladeshi nationals arriving on tourist visas and conducting religious preaching in the state. He informed that several of them have been banned from entering the state for repeatedly violating the visa norms.
In March this year, police in Barpeta district arrested a Bangladeshi national and four others for their alleged links to Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a terror outfit based in Bangladesh with links to Al Qaida In Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
Investigation revealed that the Bangladeshi national, Saiful Islam, had entered India illegally and was working as a teacher in a mosque in Barpeta. He was alleged to have indoctrinated four others to join an ABT sleeper module.
In August this year, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Assam has become a hotbed of jihadi activities spread by cadres of Bangladesi-based terror groups. He informed that at least six Bangladeshi members of ABT had entered India illegally in 2016-17 and were creating terror modules in Assam.
“Interestingly, the hub of all these activities appears to be ‘madrasas’. Most of those arrested were working as preachers in mosques—as a cover job—they aimed to wage jihad against India and establish ‘Shariat’ law,” he had said.
