On the night of December 17- December 18, the Assam Police Special Task Force arrested eight operatives of the terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in coordinated operations across Kerala, West Bengal, and Assam. The arrested individuals were part of a module aiming to establish sleeper cells, with a particular focus on Assam and West Bengal.
Among those arrested, Md Sad Radi, also known as Md Shab Sheikh, is a Bangladeshi national who was detained in Kerala. Two of the suspects are from West Bengal, while the remaining five are from Assam.
“Operation Praghat,” led by STF Assam chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta, was executed with the full support of the Kerala and West Bengal Police.
According to the Assam Police, the operation was initiated following intelligence reports regarding covert anti-national activities being orchestrated by a group of individuals under the leadership of Md Farhan Israk, a close associate of ABT chief Jasimuddin Rahmani. ABT is a faction linked to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
The police stated that the Bangladeshi national was sent to India in November with the intent to spread the group’s “nefarious ideology” and establish sleeper cells across the country. He travelled to Assam and West Bengal to meet with ABT sleeper-cell operatives before moving to Kerala to continue his mission.
In addition to the Bangladeshi national, those arrested include Minarul Sheikh and Md Abbas Ali from West Bengal, as well as Nur Islam Mandal, Abdul Karim Mandal, Mojibar Rahman, Hamidul Islam, and Enamul Hoque, all from Assam.
The Assam police stated that the incriminating documents and mobile phones seized from the arrested individuals, along with technical evidence, reveal ongoing communication with entities in Bangladesh and Pakistan over the past few months.
The police said that these sleeper cells were meant to function as covert operational units, ready for subversive and violent activities. They added that the arrested individuals played a crucial role in assisting Md Sad Radi in his efforts to identify, recruit, and indoctrinate people who shared or were inclined towards similar fundamentalist ideologies.
The Assam police further stated that by exploiting local vulnerabilities, religious sentiments, and societal fault lines, the group sought to build a covert network that could operate undetected, all while remaining committed to their organisation’s broader objective of causing disruption and chaos in India.
