Another development in the Assam Police’s ongoing campaign against terror networks came today when the Special Task Force (STF) detained a top suspect in the Kokrajhar area. According to reports, the apprehended person, Gazi Rahman, 35, of Bhodeyaguri, Kokrajhar, is associated with the Islamist groups Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
Rahman was arrested as part of Operation Praghat, a nationwide operation that targets anti-national acts, according to IGP (STF) Partha Sarathi Mahanta. “The STF was able to capture the fugitive accused with the help of Kokrajhar Police.” Investigations are ongoing, and legal proceedings are in progress,” Mahanta said.
This comes after a slew of arrests made as part of the operation. Shahinur Islam, age 36, was captured by the STF on December 27 in the Dhubri district. Officials found incriminating items during the raid in Bandhabpara, Bilasipara, including electronic devices, personal identification documents, and novels written in Urdu.
Twelve people connected to jihadi networks in Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala have been arrested as a result of the STF’s operations thus far. The expedition demonstrates Assam Police’s dedication to protecting the state and fighting terrorism. To fully deconstruct the networks, more research is being conducted.
A week earlier, the STF had also taken down a terror module and arrested eight people in three states, including a Bangladeshi national.
According to the police official, all eight of the people who were arrested were taken to Guwahati, and a thorough investigation was being conducted to learn more. Following a thorough and drawn-out review of intelligence input regarding the covert anti-national actions being carried out by a group of people commanded by Md. Farhan Israk, a close ally of Jasimuddin Rahmani, “Operation Praghat” was initiated in November.
The police officer claimed that Rahmani is the head of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a branch of the international terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. STF Chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta was directly in charge of the operation when it began.
Before relocating to Kerala for the same reason, Md. Sad Radi traveled to West Bengal and Assam to meet with sleeper cell activists of the outlawed ABT. The detainees’ mobile phones were found to have a number of dubious apps that they used to communicate with their handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
They also found four pen-drives containing incriminating information, one Bangladeshi “card,” several Bangladeshi credentials, and religious literature with skewed narratives that were printed and distributed in Bangladesh.
