The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested six persons from Assam’s Barpeta district and conducted searches at 10 locations in the state as part of an investigation into an alleged cross-border terror conspiracy and radicalisation network, a senior police official said.
The NIA conducted searches at 16 locations across Assam, West Bengal and Kerala in connection with an investigation into Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK), which investigators have described as an offshoot of the banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Police said six people were arrested from Barpeta district. They have been identified as Mustafizur Rahman and Yakub Ali from Barpeta Road, Rakibul Islam from Howly, and Zakir Hussain, Chandbar Ali and Faruk Abdullah from the Sarbhog area. The NIA is yet to issue an official statement on the arrests.
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NIA teams searched the residences of some of those arrested, while several other premises were also searched as part of the operation, police said.
In Abdullah’s case, his family said a team of officials reached their residence at around 2am and searched the house.
{{/usCountry}}In Abdullah’s case, his family said a team of officials reached their residence at around 2am and searched the house.
{{/usCountry}}His father said two mobile phones were seized and the officials checked identity documents, including Aadhaar and PAN cards.
“Abdullah works at a computer shop and has been working there for around five years. He is a graduate and married, and the only earning member of the family. We wanted to know why he was arrested but nobody revealed it,” his father said.
Family members of Rakibul Islam said they were initially informed that he was taken to a police station but later learnt that he was taken into custody.
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They said Islam used to sell chicken in Arunachal Pradesh but returned home nearly a year ago and remained unemployed since then.
The NIA also searched the residence of Mustafizur Rahman at Azad Nagar in Barpeta Road and seized his mobile phone, according to his relatives.
Rahman was arrested by the Assam Police Special Task Force (STF) on March 14 in connection with a case related to alleged jihadi activities and was released on bail after spending around three months in Guwahati Central Jail, according to his family.
Rahman runs a clothing store in Barpeta Road. His family members said he had earlier been arrested over a social media group found on his mobile phone.
“The NIA team came at around 5am on Tuesday and left by 8.15am after seizing a phone. They also took him into custody,” a relative said.
In June this year, the NIA filed a chargesheet against 11 suspected operatives of Bangladesh-based terror group JMB, who were arrested during a multi-state operation led by the Assam Police STF in December last year.
The STF arrested 11 people during searches in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. The case was later taken over by the NIA.
The central agency said the accused were part of a conspiracy to promote the extremist ideology of JMB’s offshoot IMK.
The chargesheet was filed before the NIA special court in Guwahati under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, the agency said in June.