Al-Qaeda suspects held in Kolkata
Kolkata, Nov 21 (IBNS): Acting on Central Intelligence Bureau (IB)'s inputs, Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) arrested three suspects, including two Al-Qaeda linkmen and an arms dealer, from Chitpur area in north part of the city on Tuesday, officials said.
According to reports, a team of STF nabbed three suspects, including two Bangladeshi nationals, at Kolkata railway station area at around 3 pm.
"Based on Central IB inputs, a STF team arrested three persons from Kolkata railway station at Chitpur area today at around 3 pm," DC STF Murli Dhar Sharma told IBNS.
"The arrested persons have been identified as Samsad Mian alias Tanvir alias Tushar Biswas alias Saiful, Riaz alias Riajul Islam alias Suman and Monotosh Dey alias Monada. They are the residents of Sunamganj district in Bangladesh's Sylhet division, Khulna in Bangladesh and Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal respectively," Sharma said.
Police officials said that the Bangladeshi nationals went to meet Bengal-based illegal firearms dealer Monotosh Dey near Kolkata railway station when they were nabbed.
"The Bangladeshi nationals, who have been staying in India illegally without any valid documents for last 1.5 years, met arms dealer Monotosh today to check arms samples as they wanted to buy some new and modern firearms," Murli Dhar Sharma added.
Kolkata Police, however, confirmed that two Bangladeshis were directly linked with Bangladesh-based banned Islamic extremist organization Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which was involved in the serial killing of Bangladeshi bloggers in 2015.
"Samsad Mian and Riaz are directly connected with Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) or Ansar Bangla, which is a front group for Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent," Murli Dhar Sharma said. "Riaz is a top leader of his wing while civil engineer Samsad is an active member of the terrorist organization."
The city police recovered several terrorist documents from the arrested suspects' processions.
"We have seized several documents, including several Jihadi booklets, books on explosive making, Al-Qaeda leaflets, religious copies, extremist documents and two fake aadhar cards, from the Bangladesh nationals possessions and few firearms from the arms dealer's possession," senior IPS officer Sharma told IBNS.
Police, however, have booked the trio under sections 467, 468, 471 and 120B of IPC, section 25(1A) of Arms Act and section 14 of Foreigners Act.
"The trio will be produced before a city court tomorrow and we will appeal for their STF custody," a senior Kolkata Police official told IBNS.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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