Guwahati: One more person linked with Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) has been arrested by Assam Police from Bongaigaon district on Thursday.
The arrestee has been identified as Abdus Chowhan.
According to reports, Chowhan has been apprehended from the Jogighopa police station area of the Bongaigaon district.
Reportedly, he has very close links with two Imams who were arrested earlier.
This was informed by the VV Rakesh Reddy, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Goalpara district.
Earlier, the Goalpara district police arrested two Imams linked with AQIS and ABT from the lower Assam district. They have been identified as Abdus Subhan, Imam of Tinkunia Shantipur Mosque under Mornoi police station and Jalaluddin Sheikh, Imam of Tilapara Natun Mosque under Matia police station in the Goalpara district, the report stated.
According to Reddy, their connections to the AQIS/ABT Barpeta and Morigaon modules have been aggressively found.
“We then searched their homes and discovered evidence, including Jihadi publications, books, pamphlets, posters, damaged phones, and SIM cards. There is still more questioning going on. We have some proof that will surface later when we work with local sources and do additional interviews. A small number of them had already been enlisted by these individuals into the Al-Qaeda network. We’re attempting to apprehend them all while also warning the neighbouring areas, he said.
Reddy added that names of a few locations, including Char and some areas close to Tilapara, have come up during the probe. Due to the complexity of the case, police will question the suspects further.
Their detention came after the detention of 23 people, some of whom were from Bangladesh, in Assam over the previous four months for allegedly having ties to AQIS and ABT and for establishing “jihadi” sleeper cells.