Kolkata, India's new terror destination: Bhatkal

, Sept 6: It was a known fact that Darbhanga has been the operations command center for

for long, not anymore. Kolkata now leads the names of preferred terror destinations these days.

And why not? access to the Bangladesh border is easy and hassle-free. This part of the Indian territory is least patrolled and rampant trespassing is carried out unnoticed.

This has been established by Bhatkal's statements. But what is more alarming is the fact that there are 8 modules in West Bengal, one of which is a major one in Kolkata. Surprisingly, these modules have been there for the past 8 years, without anyone noticing their operations.

Needless to say, their low-key presence in the city, apart from an attack on the US consulate in 2002, accounts to the fact that these operatives did not want themselves to be exposed. Hence, they had not taken any responsibility of the attack then, but carried it out in the name of Students' Islamic Movement of India.

Bhatkal had very early links with the city. A den for pumping fake currency in the country, Kolkata has been his home for years. In fact, he had also been arrested in a fake currency case, but was released as his importance was not realised then. Moreover, Mohammad Jalaluddin from West Bengal was involved in raising funds for shaping IM in a strong way.

Why has IM been passive here?

The reasons are obvious and multi-layered. Apart from being a major operative in transporting arms and ammunition in the country, the Kolkata module also played an important role in bringing down the economy of the country by pumping in fake notes.

Hence, the modules did not want their lids to be blown off. Bhatkal further informed that 90 percent of the fake currency were pumped in through Malda district.

90% of fake currencies pumped in India are transported through West Bengal.

How they operate

"Each one works for the money and no questions are asked. We do not house any of the operatives coming in from Bangladesh or other countries in our safe houses of sleeper cells. We have chosen villages close to the border areas and outsourced the operation to some people over there,' he said.

An interesting move since trespassing is not visible in the West Bengal border because of the rampant illegal immigration, which the government fails to check.

Moreover, The person housing these operatives is paid Rs 5,000 per person, which is a good way to make money for the poor people here. Furthermore, these people do not have any records in the police files, as they are not associated with any terror activity and hence are never on the radar.

What concerns NIA is the fact that terror outfits may have infested the country by now as 3,000 operatives are believed to have infiltrated in India in the last five years.

Moreover, these operatives do not belong to IM only but also to different terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayiba, HuJI and Hizbul Tahrir.

With new associations with the Hizbul Tahrir, the Kolkata operative is going to be active now, a reason of concern for the security agencies and the people as well.

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