Kolkata (The Hawk): On Monday, the Kolkata Police reported that within the previous 48 hours, its special task force (STF) had detained two AQIS linkmen from Mathurapur in the South 24 Parganas region of West Bengal.
With these latest arrests, the STF has now detained eight AQIS or linkmen in total over the past four months. In addition, the STF detectives detained a suspected Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy in Kalimpong, a hill resort city in the northern section of West Bengal, in September.
According to city police sources, on Saturday night, the STF investigators detained Azizul Haque at his Mathurapur home for his alleged connections to AQIS. The investigators learned about Maniruddin Khan from Azizul, who also served as the primary logistical agent in the region for both AQIS and the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a group operating illegally in neighbouring Bangladesh.
According to city police sources, Maniruddin Khan (20) was primarily in charge of setting up bogus Indian identity cards, SIM cards for mobile phones, bank accounts, and other forms of logistical support for AQIS activists travelling from Bangladesh. Additionally, he was in charge of persuading local adolescents to join the outlawed group by promoting AQIS on social media.
Since August 17 of this year, when the STF sleuths detained two outfit linkmen, Raqib Sarkar and Kazi Ahshanullah from the Shashan village within the Barasat block in North 24 Parganas district, a succession of AQIS activist arrests have been made in various parts of West Bengal.
Kazi Ahshanullah is a native of Arambagh in the Hooghly district, whereas Sarkar lives in Ganganagar in the South 24 Parganas district. The latter has a home in Kolkata's Topsia neighbourhood.
(Inputs from Agencies)