Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday arrested four Bangladeshi nationals residing in Ahmedabad illegally on charges of radicalising locals to join Al-Qaeda and generate funds to help the banned terrorist organization.
Addressing a press conference, Deputy Inspector General, ATS, Deepan Bhadran said, "Prima facie, the investigation has found that the four persons were trained by their handler based in Bangladesh before being sent to India. They were working for radicalising locals to join the banned terror outfit and generate funds for Al-Qaeda."
ATS has charged the four foreign nationals under various sections-38, 39 and 40 of Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act, among other sections of Indian Penal Code. They have been identified as Mohammad Sojibmiya, Munna Khalid Ansari alias Munnkhan, Azharul Islam Khalifuddin Ansari alias Akashkhan and Abdul Latif alias Mominul Ansari.
ATS said that based on a specific tip-off, they picked up Sojibmiya from Rakhial in Ahmedabad. He is reported to have told about the three others who were working together for Al-Qaeda's network. Bhadran said that the four were being instructed by their Bangladesh handler Shariful Islam.
"Through Islam, they met one Shayba, head of Al-Qaeda’s operations in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district. We have seized ” said Bhadran. He said that Aadhaar and PAN cards, created on the basis of fake documents and magazines published by As-Sahab Media, the propaganda media wing of proscribed terror outfit, have been recovered from the rented rooms of the suspects.
In the press release, ATS said before being sent to India, the suspects were trained in Bangladesh on using encrypted chat applications or internet privacy tools such as TOR and VPN. Sources said that one of the suspects broke his phone after seeing the police.
Published 22 May 2023, 14:34 IST