On August 26 (Friday), the Assam Police arrested another person linked to Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in Assam’s Goalpara district, as part of its ongoing crackdown on Jihadi terrorists operating from mosques and madrasas in the state. Hafizur Rahman Mufti, the arrested terrorist, is a resident of Goalpara and was working as a cleric in a madarsa located in the region.
He was apprehended in the Jogighopa area of Goalpara’s Bongaigaon district on Friday and sent to police custody for five days.
Speaking about the arrest, the Goalpara SP, VV Rakesh Reddy said that Hafizur Rahman Mufti’s arrest is the fourth such arrest made by the Assam police within a week.
Assam | Goalpara district police have arrested one Hafizur Rahman Mufti linked with AQIS/ABT from Jogighopa area in Bongaigaon district. He is a teacher at a madrasa. This is the fourth arrest in connection with AQIS/ABT within a week: VV Rakesh Reddy, SP Goalpara pic.twitter.com/E87LWwBvtw
— ANI (@ANI) August 26, 2022
Prior to this arrest, the Assam Police Saturday arrested two more imams linked with Islamic terror groups. The two Imams were arrested by the Goalpara Police in Assam as part of a broad anti-terror operation against the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent. After being questioned by police for many hours, Jalaluddin Sheikh (49), the imam of Tilapara Natun Masjid, and Abdus Subhan (43), the imam of Tinkunia Shantipur Masjid, Mornoi, were both taken into police custody.
With these arrests, the total number of Al-Qaeda terrorists arrested in the state has risen to more than 34.
While talking to the media, DGP Assam Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said, “More than 34 people affiliated with Al-Qaeda have already been arrested. Assam Police won’t allow these kinds of conspiracies to succeed. Some Army training camps have been set up by Bangladeshis.”
Assam | There are different types of groups of Madrasas in Assam… Some new groups are sprouting up & taking advantage. Conspiracy hatching from outside Assam, currently from Bangladesh & Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, influencing youth to spread radicalization: DGP BJ Mahanta pic.twitter.com/PPbaf9TgCs
— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2022
“There are different types of groups of Madrasas in Assam. Some new groups are sprouting up and taking advantage. Conspiracy hatching from outside Assam, currently from Bangladesh and Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, influencing youth to spread radicalisation,” the DGP added.
Assam becoming a hotbed of jihadi activities with modules operated from Madarsas: Assam CM
Notably, the crackdown on Jihadi terrorists by the Assam police comes weeks after the Morigaon district administration demolished the Jamiul Huda Madarsa in the Moirabari area. The Madrasa was sealed after Mufti Mustafa, who was running it, was arrested for his links with Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team & AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent).
The Madarsa was demolished under the Disaster Management Act & UAPA Act. According to the administration, the madarsa was built and operated without requisite permissions and was drawing electricity illegally. 43 students were studying at the Madrasa, and they have been admitted to different general schools with the cooperation of their parents.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while addressing a press conference to give a detailed account of what police had found in the ongoing probes on the issue then, had said that Assam has become a hotbed of Jihadi activities, with terror modules being set up in Madarsas.
Assam’s crackdown on Islamic terrorism
Notably, at present Ansarullah Bangla Team, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, has been most active in the state. In the last six months, five modules of ABT have been caught in the state. These groups were busted based on intelligence inputs gathered by both Assam police and central agencies. It is notable that Ansarullah Bangla Team has been banned in Bangladesh for its terror activities.
In March this year, an ABT sleeper cell of six people was busted, including one Bangladeshi national named Md Suman. According to police, several Bangladeshi ABT members are active in Assam, each leading separate sleeper cells. Md Suman had entered India illegally via West Bengal in 2018, and was working as a teacher at a Madrasa, and also working as an Iman at a mosque in Barpeta district. He had also married a local woman from Chirang.
