The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested six persons from Assam’s Barpeta district and conducted searches at 10 locations in the state as part of an investigation into an alleged cross-border terror conspiracy and radicalisation network, a senior police official said.
We wanted to know why he was arrested but nobody revealed it,” his father said. They have been identified as Mustafizur Rahman and Yakub Ali from Barpeta Road, Rakibul Islam from Howly, and Zakir Hussain, Chandbar Ali and Faruk Abdullah from the Sarbhog area. The NIA is yet to issue an official statement on the arrests. “Abdullah works at a computer shop and has been working there for around five years. He is a graduate and married, and the only earning member of the family. Rahman runs a clothing store in Barpeta Road.
Rahman was arrested by the Assam Police Special Task Force (STF) on March 14 in connection with a case related to alleged jihadi activities and was released on bail after spending around three months in Guwahati Central Jail, according to his family.
Police said six people were arrested from Barpeta district. NIA teams searched the residences of some of those arrested, while several other premises were also searched as part of the operation, police said. Family members of Rakibul Islam said they were initially informed that he was taken to a police station but later learnt that he was taken into custody. His family members said he had earlier been arrested over a social media group found on his mobile phone.
The NIA conducted searches at 16 locations across Assam, West Bengal and Kerala in connection with an investigation into Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK), which investigators have described as an offshoot of the banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
