GUWAHATI, Dec 25: Two suspected members of a ‘sleeper cell’ of a terror network have been arrested along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Assam’s Kokrajhar district, police said on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference here, special director general of police Harmeet Singh said, “The Special Task Force (STF), along with Kokrajhar district police, carried out an operation in the district’s Namapara area on Tuesday night and arrested the duo.”
“The team, led by STF inspector general Parthasarathi Mahanta, achieved a huge success in averting a possible terror act by jihadi elements of a global terrorist organisation. We seized war-like stores from them,” he added.
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The duo were ‘sleeper cell’ members of a network, having links with the Bangladesh-based Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which is an affiliate of the Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Singh said.
He said the operation was part of the ongoing multi-state exercise – Operation Praghat.
“On the intervening night of December 17-18, Assam Police arrested eight suspected terrorists, including one Bangladeshi, in coordinated inter-state operations from Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala, and busted an attempt to set up ‘sleeper cells’ to carry out subversive activities across the country.”
Singh said the terror network had “big plans” to carry out subversive activities in other states of Northeast and the rest of the country.
“They were in the process of creating a big terror network, but their first attempt failed after our successful operations. We are working with multiple states and central agencies to investigate the case. More details will emerge in the coming days,” he added.
Asked if the network got activated after political turmoil hit Bangladesh earlier this year, the SDGP said, “A citizen of the foreign country entered India in November to activate the ‘sleeper cell’ network before he was caught in Kerala.”
“This is going to be a long operation to unearth the entire module. It is being studied, analysed and investigated. I don’t see it ending anytime soon,” he added.
Singh said that from Kokrajhar, the STF team recovered four handmade rifles that are made to look like AKs, 34 rounds of live ammunition, and 24 rounds of blank cartridges signalling that they were practicing firing.
“We also seized a pair of live un-primed IED with cortex, one handmade grenade with explosives, one circuit of detonators made out of agricultural equipment, 14 electronic switches, three iron cases used for making IEDs with 20 iron pieces and plates for causing maximum damage,” he added.
Besides, a huge number of switches and wires with explosives used in firecrackers along with other incriminating items have been recovered from the two arrested persons, Singh said. (PTI)
