UP ATS crackdown on Bangladesh  terror outfit, arrest 8 members

Lucknow: In a major swoop on terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested its eight members , officials said.

According to an official release, those arrested have been identified as Luqmaan, Shahzad, Kari Mukhtar, Mudassir, Kamil, Alin Noor, Nawazish Ansari and Aleem.

ATS officials said that Mudassir was arrested from Haridwar and the others from Saharanpur.

They all have been booked under the charges of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and concealing with intent to wage war.

ADG (Law and Order), Prashant Kumar said that the ATS was receiving information from intel agencies that al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (AQIS) and its associate agency JMB were spreading their network in Uttar Pradesh and planning to wage a war against the state.

The officer said that the arrested Bangladeshis used to add orthodox people in their group, inviting them in the name of jihad while they used to keep their identities a secret.

The ATS said that Luqmaan had given shelter to terrorist Abdul Talha for 11 months and also funded terror activities.

Police also seized an anti-country literature, a pen drive and a mobile phone and sent it for forensic examination. Abdul Talha is wanted by the NIA and STF, West Bengal in multiple terror acts.

The officer said that Shahzad was adept in bomb making and had also spread the wings of the outfit to Madhya Pradesh.

“Mudassir was given Rs 80,000 by Talha for a terror act. Another accused Kamil had used his bank account in which Rs 2. 5 lakh was sent by Talha,” ATS sources said.

Further, Alinoor was involved in radicalising youths by tutoring them and had hidden his real identity. Other accused, Nawazish and Aleem also provided logistics support to terrorist Talha.IANS