Bengal cops secure intel on youths targeted by 3 arrested JMB activists for induction in sleeper cells

Kolkata, May 26 West Bengal Police has been able to get detailed information about several youths, some even minors, in different pockets of the state who were targeted by the three recently-arrested associates of Bangladesh-based fundamentalist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for brainwashing and subsequent induction in the sleeper cell of that outfit.

Sources said that these three arrested JMB activists followed a specific pattern for targeting the youths for brainwashing.

First, the targeted youths were contacted individually and encouraged to participate in programs reportedly meant for religious teachings.

“The main motive behind such programs, sources added, was to brainwash these youths and subsequently induct them in the local sleeper cells of the JMB. At those programs, the participating youth were distributed books and videos, which under the façade of religious texts and literature, subtly gave the messages of jihad.

In the initial sessions, sources added, the task of the arrested associates was to identify those targeted youths with long-term conviction and dedication to pursue the bigger aims of the outfit.

After the identification process was over, further brainwashing of the selected youths continued.

Already, the Investigation Officials have been able to track the Pakistan links of Abasuddin Molla, one of the three Indian associates of the JMB who were arrested by the sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police earlier this month.

As per the findings of the sleuths, the coded encrypted messages recovered from the mobile phones of Aazmal Hossain and Saheb Ali Khan, who were arrested from Birbhum district earlier this month, showed their links only with associates of Bangladesh-based fundamentalist outfits namely JMB, Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HUT), and Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

However, similar coded and encrypted messages recovered from the mobile phones of Molla showed his regular communication with some individuals based out of Pakistan as well as with associates of the Jammu & Kashmir-based fundamentalist group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

Molla was arrested from Paturi village in the minority-dominated Diamond Harbour area in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, just a day after two others were arrested from Birbhum district earlier this month.

Recently, the Union Home Ministry received information from Intelligence agencies about the alleged role of illegal Bangladeshi intruders in fuelling violence and vandalism in the minority-dominated Murshidabad district over violent protests against the newly-promulgated Waqf (Amendment) Act.

The names of JMB, HUT, and ABT surfaced in that Intelligence input. However, considering the geographical locations of the pockets where the tension and violence had been maximum this time, especially Samserganj, the possibility of ABT playing a role in fomenting the violence sounded more logical.

On the eastern side of the International Border at Samserganj and Dhulian, is the Bangladeshi district of Chapai-Nawabganj, which is considered the stronghold of the ABT.

Sources added that because of this geographical proximity, the chances of ABT's involvement in the latest developments at Murshidabad are most likely.

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