Two men with ‘IS link’ held in West Bengal's Howrah

The arrested men were engaged mainly in brainwashing youths to join IS and also arrange for funds to spread their network in the state.

New Delhi, Jan 07: The Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested two persons with suspected links to ISIS from West Bengal's Howrah.

The two men, identified as Mohammad Saddam and Syed Ahmed, were arrested from over the second Hooghly Bridge connecting Kolkata with Howrah. The duo were engaged mainly in brainwashing youths to join IS and also arrange for funds to spread their network in the state.

The police said, "they have been arrested for conspiring to wage war against the Government of India and overthrow it to establish a caliphate by means of terror attacks and propagation of fundamentalism and hatred in the society."

With the intension of waging a war against the government, they were engaged in the process of recruiting young Muslim youths and collection of arms ammunition, explosives and also to raise fund for terror.

"They were promoting anti-national activities and radicalism on social media. They used videos of explosions and killings to incite anti-national sentiments among youths. Several youths seem to have fallen into their trap," they said.

They were moving on a bike when STF officers chased and arrested them. The duo was presented before a lower court in Kolkata, which remanded them to STF custody till anuary 19.

The police have recovered several laptops, mobile phones, hard drives, pen drives, CPU, Note book, Diary, weapon, Debit cards and a motorcycle from their hideouts.

Several Jehadi contents, list of Jehadi channels and list of doubtful name of companies have been traced in those seized articles and documents.

One of the two arrested persons is an MTech engineering student and a resident of Aftabuddin Munshi Lane in Tikiapara, while another is from Shibpur in Howrah. Both are known in their respective localities as well-mannered and soft-spoken.