Two suspected Bangladeshi terrorists, arms dealer arrested with fake aadhaar card in Kolkata

Deputy Commissioner, STF, Murlidhar Sharma said that the three – Samsad Mia (26) alias Tushar Biswas, Riazul Islam (25) alias Riaz alias Suman and Manotosh Dey (46) had been arrested from Kolkata Railway Station in north Kolkata between 2.30 and 3 pm.

During preliminary investigation it was found that Samsad and Riazul were Bangladeshi nationals and members of banned ABT also called Ansar Bangla and had come to purchase arms and chemicals used for making explosives. “ABT is responsible for the murder of several bloggers in Bangladesh and has direct links with Al-Qaeda network in the Indian sub continent. Samsad occupied a higher position in the ABT hierarchy. A fake Aadhaar card of Samsad has also been recovered where he has named himself Tushar Biswas. We are trying to find out where and how did he get the Aadhaar card done,” Sharma said.

Fake aadhaar cards seized from the operatives

According to Kolkata police specific inputs were received from Central Intelligence Bureau about their movements.
“We were told by Central IB during the final phase of Durga puja here and while the U-17 FIFA World Cup was on, that 2-3 persons of from Bangladesh have or will soon come to Bengal from some other part of the country. Acting on that in the last 20-25 days we started combing operation at various stations, bus stands and also source network was engaged. We had come to know that they had come to purchase arms,” Sharma added.

According to police , the duo had come here not only to buy arms but also to indoctrinate sympathizers and lure youths to form a module. Hand written papers with names such as ‘Esplanade Bus Stand’ and ‘Eden Gardens’ written on it were found from their possession which indicates there might be a plan for subversive activities here.
Sharma said that other than a 7.32 mm pistol, a single shotter pistol, a laptop, a number of pen drives, several books and documents were recovered related to Al-Qaeda. “One of the books described how to make explosives while another said how to conduct a recce of a place. There was also literature on religious speeches,” he said.

Arms recovered from the operatives

Police also found that the duo visited a number of chemical shops in Kolkata and were enquiring about chemicals specifically used to prepare explosives. Many visiting cards of such shops had been recovered from them. “We have come to know that the two have illegally entered India and had met Dey who is a resident of Basirhat and is an arms dealer. They met him today after deferring the meeting for the past few days with the intentions of buying arms and Dey had come with two samples. The duo said that they had been staying in India for the last one and a half years. They have said that they had not been staying in any hotels but spent the nights at railway stations, passenger restrooms and other such places,” Sharma added.

Earlier after Burdwan blasts in 2014, a number of Bangladesh based Jamaat-ul-Mujahidin operatives were arrested who aimed at indoctrination and forming a base in Bengal.

In July 2016, Criminal Investigation Department arrested one Mosiruddin from Biswa Bharati Fast passenger train at Burdwan station. A resident of Birbhum district Mossiruddin admitted his links with Islamic state leaders via social networking sites and e-mails and stated he was entrusted with the formation of a module in Bengal.