A Bangladesh national, who investigators say was recruiting young men from terror activities and providing them with logistical support, was arrested today from Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh.
The man, identified as Abdullah, is suspected to be linked to the Ansarullah Bangla Team — a Bangladesh-based extremist group inspired by the Al Qaeda.
Sources in the Anti-Terror Squad, which made the arrest, said Abdullah had been living in Uttar Pradesh since 2011. Initially, he lived in Deoband.
Last month, he moved to Muzaffarnagar’s Kutesara area, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting senior ATS officer Asim Arun.
Abdullah was allegedly involved in terror recruitment, said the anti-terror officials. He was also providing fake identity cards and arranging safe hideouts for Bangladeshi terror recruits in India.
Fake Aadhar, passport and 13 other fake identity cards has been recovered from him.
Three others are being interrogated in the case, said sources.
Bangladesh has been witnessing an increasing number of terror attacks over the last four years.
The worst of these was the attack on a cafe at an upscale locality in Bangladesh capital Dhaka in July last year. Twenty-nine people were killed in the attack, conducted by five terrorists linked to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh government had said.
The Ansarullah Bangla Team had been accused of a series of attacks on secular writers and bloggers. In 2015, the group had published a hit-list of international bloggers and activists. Nine of the people named were UK nationals and two were from the US.
Source: The Daily Ittefaq