The Anti Terrorism Squad of Gujarat suspects that the East Burdwan youths picked up on charges of conspiring to commit anti-national activities were preparing a sleeper cell named ‘Bengal Module’ in the western state that was funded by Islamic State of Khorsan Province (ISKP) and not Al Qaida that the agency was inclined to think initially.
Gujarat ATS suspects ISKP brainwashed Bengal youths (photo: ANI)
The Anti Terrorism Squad of Gujarat suspects that the East Burdwan youths picked up on charges of conspiring to commit anti-national activities were preparing a sleeper cell named ‘Bengal Module’ in the western state that was funded by Islamic State of Khorsan Province (ISKP) and not Al Qaida that the agency was inclined to think initially.
The ATS picked up 15 migratory labourers from Bengal from Rajkot last Monday. Three of them, Aman Mallik, Saif Nawaz Said and Abdul Shukur Sheikh were taken into custody under Section 121 A of the IPC. One semi-automatic pistol and 10 rounds of ammunitions were seized from their possession, along with three Android phones loaded with Jihadi videos, Apps and links to pages filled with radical versions. The DIG, ATS claimed: “Currently, we suspect that they were tapped by the ISKP and some of them were trained in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
They were to have mounted an operation in the country within the next three months.” The ISKP is an affiliate of Islamic State militant group active in South and Central Asian countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was founded by Hafiz Saeed Khan – a former Taliban member. ISKP started mounting threat to India’s regional security in certain states since after the Covid-19 lockdown that reduced many poor youths to migrant labourers.
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“The metastasising ISKP is gradually headed towards becoming a menace in India,” apprehended Adil Rashid – a researcher at Manohar Parikkar Institute for Defence Studies & Analysis, Maharashtra in his paper published in 2020. Abdul Shukur of Dhola village in Kalna and Aman Mallik of Tarkeswar in Hooghly, as the investigating officials have revealed, “were trapped by the ISKP after they had clicked the links the outfit had sent to their mobile phones, by chance.”
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