West Bengal village under security and intelligence scanner

An obscure village in West Bengal has suddenly come under the scanner of security and intelligence agencies. Located on the Indo-Bangladesh border it has now been earmarked as a stopover destination for operatives of a banned Bangladesh terror outfit before visiting other parts of the country.

Gacha Village in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal on the Indo-Bangladesh border in September and October was visited by a number of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT - a Bangladeshi front of the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent -AQIS) operatives crossing over illegally to India without documents.

Interrogating of one Mohammad Sahadat Hossain (26 years) alias Babu who works as a tout and had facilitated the operatives cross over to India revealed that most had crossed over in September and October.

After crossing over through this route (also used by cattle smugglers) the operatives would spend 3 to 5 days in this village. From here they would go to Kolkata and then to other parts of the country as per instructions from the handlers.

Special Task Force (STF) sleuths state that while staying in Gacha village the operatives would receive instructions from their handlers and in some case fake documents like Adhar cards also.

The information has been passed over by the STF to the BSF manning the Indo-Bangladesh border and the National Investigation Agency (NIA.) An STF team has also visited the Gacha village for investigation purpose.

Interrogations have also revealed that another ABT operative Mohammad Aftab Khan alias Omar Farooq alias Mahi who had also sneaked in and spent 3 days in a Lodge located on Dobson Road, Howrah. He is believed to be attached to the operations wing of the ABT.

STF has launched a manhunt for him. They have examined CCTV footage of the Lodge and have also taken into their possession the Lodge occupancy register.

Incidentally the STF on November 21 had arrested Samsad Mia alias Tanvir alias Saiful alias Tushar Biswas (26 years) is a resident of Katashola, Moinpur, Sunamgunj, Shylet, Bangladesh; Rizaul Islam alias Riyaz alias Sumon (25 years) of Kasimnagar, Kapilmoni Panchayat, Khulna, Bangladesh and Monotosh Dey alias Mona Da (46 years) of Kholapota, Basirhat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal.

While Samsad Mia (Tanvir) and Rizaul Islam are allegedly Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) operatives, Monotesh Dey is an arms dealer.

On November 24, Mohammad Sahadat Hossain was arrested by the STF from in front of Jagat Talkies (cinema hall) located on Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Sealdah, Kolkata.

A manhunt has also been launched for Sajol Ahmed and Nayan Gazi, both ABT operatives from Bangladesh.

OneIndia News