Three persons, including two members of Bangladesh-based Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and a local arms dealer, who was arrested by the city police, were sent to 14 days in police custody on Wednesday, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
The three were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police from the Kolkata Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon when they allegedly met to seal an arms deal.
“All three of them were produced in the city sessions court today (Wednesday) which has remanded them to 14 days of police custody till December 5,” Muralidhar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police (STF), told IANS.
The Police had said on Tuesday that two of the three accused — Shamsad Mia alias Tanveer alias Tushar Biswas and Riaz alias Riazul Islam — hailed from Bangladesh and are members of the ABT, a front for Al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, while the third man Manotosh Dey alias Mona Da is suspected to be an arms dealer from North 24 Parganas district’s Basirhat.
The officer also revealed that the two members of the Bangladeshi militant group entered India illegally one and a half years ago and travelled to a number of cities apart from Kolkata.
“Their documents reveal that they have been to Hyderabad, Patna, Ranchi and Pune in the last one and a half years. The purpose of their visit is yet to be ascertained,” Sharma said.
He said the STF officers were also interrogating the two wives of arms dealer Dey to get details about his past activities and connections.