Bangladeshi terrorist with Al Qaeda links held in UP

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorist squad on Sunday arrested a suspected Bangladeshi terrorist, associated with the Islamic extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Muzaffarnagar district. 

UP’s ADG (law and order) Anand Kumar told reporters here that the man, identified as Abdullah, was held from Muzaffarnagar district, and that fake stamps, documents related to bomb-making and other incriminating documents were recovered from his possession. 

IG (ATS) Asim Arun said Abdullah had been arrested from the Kutesara locality in the Charthawal area of Muzaffarnagar district, where he had been staying.

The UP ATS said Abdullah had entered India illegally and that the police had recovered an Aadhaar card and a passport from him. He is also said to have arranged fake identification documents for many others. He had earlier been staying in Saharanpur since 2011.

Preliminary interrogation has revealed that Abdullah used to help militants, primarily from Bangladesh, get safe passage in India by getting fake identification documents made for them. Three others have been called in for questioning over the matter.

The Ansarullah Bangla Team is a Bangladeshi militant outfit inspired by Al Qaeda. Among other crimes, it is believed to be behind the series of attacks and murders targeting atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.

The ATS teams of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and the local police of Shamli are conducting searches after Abdullah’s arrest.

During interrogation, Abdullah told the ATS sleuths that he used to prepare fake identity proofs with the help of one Faizan, a resident of Deoband, IG Asim Arun said. Based on this, Faizan’s house in Deoband was searched but he was not found there, the ATS official said. However, a lot of “jihadi” literature in Bangla, literature on the making of bombs, a colour printer and a number of fake IDs had been recovered from there, he added.