Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Thursday that the region has turned into a hub for jihadist operations connected to the terror group located in Bangladesh.
The chief minister provided information about the five terror modules that Assam Police had so far dismantled in the state during a news conference.
In relation to this, he disclosed a few cases that had been solved since the late 1990s.
The first module Harkat–ul–Mujahideen (HUM) was busted in the year 1999 followed by Harkat–ul–Jihad–al–Islami (HUJI) in the year 2003-04. With five years of hardwork from 2011-16 Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh was busted. After that in the year 2018-20, Hizb-ul–Mujahideen was busted.
Assam has been concentrating on dismantling Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which has ties to Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), for the past five months. According to him, Assam Police have so far busted 5 modules.
Five Jihadis were captured after the Barpeta Police dismantled the first module in March. The primary suspect, Bangladeshi resident Saiful Islam alias Harun Rashid alias Mohammad Suman, was discovered to have entered India illegally through West Bengal during the preliminary investigation.
Six people were arrested in April when the Barpeta Police dismantled the second module in several locations throughout the region.
Four people were subsequently detained by the Bongaigaon Police in July; they were all Tripura residents.
The fourth module was busted in Morigaon which made a major breakthrough for Assam police. The prime accused Mufti Mustafa, who has a doctorate in Islamic Law, had connections which the top leaders of the terror organisation ABT. After getting doctorate in 2017, he opened a Madrassa Jami-ul-Huda in Moirabari.
Speaking about the destroyed madrassa, he claimed that it supposedly served as the centre for all of the operations. As a result of the solid evidence gathered about the terrorist operations occurring inside the Madrassa, it was vandalised on Thursday.
“Their method of communication is very advanced, and they made an app,” CM Sarma stated. People from Bangladesh who travel to India install the app, then remove it after speaking with someone. It is therefore challenging to locate them.
He continued, “Mustafi might be aware of the sleeper cells running India.
Videos and literature related to the jihad were found on him. Even little sums of cash were provided to him so that no one would be suspicious of him.
Barpeta Police dismantled the fifth module, and nine people were taken into custody.
According to CM Sarma, the jihadis do not communicate via mobile devices. They maintain their laptops, pendrives, and other devices up to date.
The Madrassas are connected to the jihadis who have been apprehended so far, according to CM Sarma.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is given the Jihadis who have been apprehended so far for further investigation.
However, he does emphasise that the Muslim community is where they get their knowledge about these terror organisations. He asked the people of Assam to refrain from generalising and pointed out that information is often gathered from Muslim groups, thus the claim that all Assamese Muslims support jihad is utterly false.
Additionally, he asked that the imam and new teacher at the mosque not be entertained if they are from outside the area or if they had travelled there from elsewhere. If they encounter such questionable individuals, they should report them as soon as possible so that verification may be done.
He also mentioned that a toll-free number will be established so that people could report any suspicious individuals or activities.
Many training camps were organised during the covid period. These training included tradecrafts, cyber security, radicalization and bomb making.