Kolkata: West Bengal police's Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday late evening had arrested Md Habibullah from Burdwan district’s Kanksa area.
According to the STF team, Habibullah was operating a module named Shahadat Shahadat-e al Hiqma, a banned terror outfit in Bangladesh which also has links with Al-Qaeda.
Incidentally, the Shahadat-e al Hikma was formed by members of the Ansar al-Islam after Ansar al-Islam was banned in Bangladesh and its members were arrested.
“Habibullah is a second year in computer science at a college in Burdwan and is suspected to be associated with the Shahadat-e al Hiqma. He was arrested under the Unlawful activities (prevention) act from his residence in Mirpara,” said a police officer.
On producing before the court Habibullah has been given 14 days STF custody.
According to police, the sleuths have arrested five others from Nabaghat area of the same district after Habibullah has taken their name during the investigation. The police had also seized Habibullah’s laptop and mobile phone.
The police sources confirmed that Habibullah used to connect with the terror group and members through encrypted messages using a messaging platform called BiP.
Notably, in May this year, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh police had arrested three members of this terror outfit from Dhaka and Md. Habibullah’s name came up during interrogation.
Abhishek Gupta, Deputy Commissioner (East), Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate said that the STF has arrested one person on suspicion of being a militant.
Former police officer Pankaj Dutta also mentioned that the state police should be more active.
“Such an incident should not be taken lightly. Terrorists entering the state and conducting unlawful activity is not safe. Few days back we saw people from neighboring country entering Bengal and murdering a Bangladesh MP. The borders should be made stronger,” said Dutta.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Shamik Bhattacharya said that such an issue should not be ‘politicized’.
