Assam police to set up SIT to probe Hizbul activities

Guwahati: The Assam police on Monday decided to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the ongoing attempt of the Kashmir-based Hizbul M-ujahideen to rope in Muslim youths in the state.

The decision came after the arrest of four Hizbul Mujahideen operatives —three in Assam and one in Kanpur who hails from Central Assam’s Hojai district.

Pointing out that trail started with the arrest of Hizbul Mujahideen cadre Qamar-uz-Zaman in Kanpur by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, security sources said that interrogation of Zaman led to the arrest of three Hizbul operatives in Assam.

Within 48 hours, Assam police has arrested three operatives of the group, Shahnawaz Alam, Sahi-dul Alam and Omar Faro-oq, all from Jamun-amukh in Hojai district. Zaman who was arrested from Kanpur is also from Jamunamukh.

The SP of Hojai, Ankur Jain, who is leading the investigation, said that they have set up SIT to started a coordinated investigation into the matter. “Zaman had left home in 2012 to work at a garment shop owned by a relative in Kashmir. In 2017, he went missing, his family lodged missing reports in Kashmir and here,” a security source said.

Referring Assam’s international boundary sharing with Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan, security sources said that it facilitates a fertile ground for such radical organization for their clandestine activity.

Informing that Zaman visited Assam to recruit youths in August, security sources said that Zaman was on mission to rope in arms suppliers of the region.

Security sources said that Hizbul Mujahideen is suspected to have been roping in operatives from the state to recruit radicalized youths.