Guwahati: In another significant development in the ongoing operations against Islamic terror networks, the Assam Police Special Task Force (STF) on December 30 (Monday) arrested a most wanted terrorist in the Kokrajhar district. As per the STF source, the arrested terrorist, Gazi Rahman, 35, of Bhodeyaguri, Kokrajhar, is a member of the Bangladesh based Islamist terrorist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a wing of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
Rahman was arrested as part of Operation Praghat, a nationwide operation that targets anti-national acts by the Islamist terrorist groups, according to STF IGP (STF) Partha Sarathi Mahanta. With the help of Kokrajhar Police, the STF was able to capture the terrorist who was evading arrest for the last few days. Investigations are ongoing, and legal proceedings are in progress,” IGP Mahanta said. This comes after a slew of arrests made as part of the operation. The STF arrested Shahinur Islam, 36, of Dhubri district on December 27. Officials found incriminating items during the raid in Bandhabpara, Bilasipara, including electronic devices, personal identification documents, and novels written in Urdu.
The STF stopped a possible terror act connected to a notorious terrorist group in a different raid on December 24 in the Namapara neighborhood of Kokrajhar district. An armory of guns, explosives, and ingredients for trigger IEDs was seized, and two suspects, Abdul Zaher Sheikh and Sabbir Mirdha, were taken into custody. The seized by STF included explosives, live ammunition, and homemade guns that looked like AK-47s.
STF earlier in a series of raids in Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala had arrested 12 terrorists connected to jihadi networks on 17-18 December. Which includes one most wanted terrorist of Bangladesh. The expedition demonstrates Assam Police’s dedication to protecting the state and fighting terrorism. There are still investigations underway to fully dismantle the networks.
