West Bengal (Islamist/Other Conflicts): Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2016

A Bangladesh national, Salim Reza was arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel of 20th battalion from the zero-point area of India-Bangladesh border near Mahadipur in English Bazaar Police Station in Malda District on February 3, reports echoofindia.com. BSF troopers confiscated two SIM cards, few Bangladesh currencies and a chit containing an address in Kaliachak from Reza, later he was handed over to English Bazaar Police. Police sources informed that the arrested Bangladesh national, who is a inhabitant of shialbari village of Shibganj Police station under ChapaiNababganj District in Bangladesh, tried to mislead the police by offering several different reasons for intruding to India.Police are concerned after address of an Indian citizen living in Kaliachak was recovered from him. “We have to ascertain whether the youth was a member of a fake-currency peddling racket,” a Police official added. Prasun Banerjee, Superintendent of Police (SP), Malda said, “BSF handed over us a Bangladesh national for allegedly trying to intrude. We are trying to know the motive of the youth behind the attempt of intrusion.” Read less...

On February 3, three persons arrested along with Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) of face value INR 3,00,000 was seized by police from Kaliachak in West Bengal's Malda District, reports Business Standard. They were arrested and produced at the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court which remanded them to Police custody on February 4 for four days. Read less...

The Islamic State (IS) module neutralised ahead of the Republic Day celebrations as part of the nationwide terror sweep, was active in West Bengal, said the National Investigation Agency (NIA), The Times of India reports on February 7. The agency is currently trying to figure out whether the network was linked to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). "While interrogating the arrested persons, we found references to West Bengal. It seems that they had planned to procure weapons from the state," an NIA official said.According to sources, NIA investigators initially did not get any lead on the JMB movements in West Bengal. But with time, more leads started coming in after the sleuths went through the mobile phone conversations of the arrested persons. While going through the conversations, investigators found that the arrested persons, allegedly IS operatives, wanted to procure weapons from West Bengal. The operatives also reportedly found a safe route to procure the weapons from the state.Sources said that Fake currency and gold smuggling rackets are already active in the border Districts of Bangladesh. Intelligence inputs also confirm that there are illegal arms racket operating in the same area. Earlier, these rackets have supplied arms and explosives to militant and terror units operating in eastern and north-eastern states. A sizeable chunk of unaccounted cash was also recovered from the arrested persons, which made investigators assume that there might have been financial transactions between the IS operatives and arms rackets.Apart from carrying out explosions in several parts of the country, the group had also planned to conduct camps and jihadi workshops. From the intercepts, NIA officials came to know that the arrested module was planning to establish a channel of procurement of explosives and weapons. "We are yet to know whether they were trying to smuggle in weapons from neighbouring countries or from within the state. But it is so far clear that they were trying to create a channel that would have helped other terror modules too," an NIA official said. Read less...

The Border Security Force (BSF) on February 12 arrested a man near the Bangladesh border in West Bengal's Malda District along with Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) of the face value of over INR 13,00,000, reports Business Standard. The man was seized by the troopers in the early hours in the Daulatpur border outpost area. The BSF so far in the year has seized over INR 27,00,000 FICN and apprehended six smugglers from across the South Bengal frontier.  Read less...

On February 23, National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested one person, identified as 19 year old Asif Ahmad alias Raju Das from Durgapur in Bardhaman District of West Bengal on suspicions of having links with the Islamic State (IS), reports Deccan Herald. It is believed the youth was part of a network that helped plan terror strikes across India and ran an online training module. Acknowledging the youth’s detention, NIA’s Inspector General Sanjeev Singh said agency and state CID officials, acting on a tip-off, reached Durgapur on February 23 and detained Asif. “He is presently under questioning. He is suspected of having links with IS. He used to stay in a rented accommodation in Durgapur under an alias,” Singh said. Officials added that Asif’s father Ishaq was also detained and the two are being questioned at the agency’s office in Kolkata. Read less...

The Border Security Force (BSF) seized Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) with face value exceeding INR 6,00,000 in an operations under the Churianantpur border post in Malda District of West Bengal on February 26, reports The Times of India. "Challenged by a BSF team, the miscreants coming from the Bangladesh side of the border managed to escape but we have seized the FICNs," said a BSF officer. The BSF so far in the year has seized over INR 57,00,000 in FICNs from across the South Bengal frontier and apprehended seven smugglers.` Read less...

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is questioning a youth, identified as Asif Ahmed, pursuing a polytechnic course from a Bardhaman college of West Bengal in connection with its “open FIR” against Islamic State (IS), Indian Express reports on February 27 (today). Ahmed, is suspected to be a member of Junud-al-Khilafa-e-Hind (JKH), a self-appointed franchise of IS. NIA sources said that Ahmed had been found to have interacted with other members of the group through social media and material related to IS propaganda had been found on his laptop. Read less...