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

In border outpost Daulatpur of Malda District, Border Security Force (BSF) troopers seized Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), being of 1000 and 500 rupee denomination, amounting to nearly INR 20,00,000 being smuggled into India from Bangladesh, The Hindu reports on May 9. Upon being challenged to stop, the miscreants managed to flee leaving behind the money bag. After a thorough search, the BSF ambush party recovered a bag containing FICN wrapped in plastic. The seized currency has been handed over to Police for further action. So far, BSF South Bengal Frontier has seized fake currency of the face value of over INR 97,00,000 during 2016. Read less...

Nearly 500 Indian youth, who have been attracted towards terror outfit Islamic State (IS) are being tracked by investigative agencies, india.com reports on May 31. According to the latest estimate of government and intelligence agencies, 400-500 Indians were found being impressed by IS’s ideological lure of the so-called caliphate. Intelligence agencies, state Police departments and National Investigation Agency (NIA) are on their toes and constantly tracking the activities of Indian youth who showed interest towards IS. Many of them hail the ‘achievements’ of the IS on social media and interact on web regularly to make efforts to get in touch with someone from the terror organisation so that they can travel to Iraq and Syria.These Indians, mostly youngsters, are from states like – Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Delhi. They utilise web-based calling, messaging and chat apps like Trillion, Live, Tango, KIK, Nimbuzz, Voxer, Talkray, GroupMe, Viber, Hike, KaKao Talk, IM+ and many others apart from Facebook and Twitter to make contact with IS militants. According to investigative agencies most of them who want to join IS get attracted to the group’s basic philosophy that it will establish a caliphate based on sharia law. “The idea appeals to them. They believe that Muslims have faced atrocities at the hands of western countries over the years and they should do something about it. They also feel that there are too many social malpractices in the modern world and only IS led caliphate can provide a remedy,” an intelligence expert stated.So far 41 IS recruits have been arrested by Indian agencies. Read less...

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) which has been probing the October 2, 2014 Bardhaman blast says that  the smaller modules of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) are now heavily engaging in propaganda instead of preparing bombs like they did earlier, oneindia.com reports on May 31. While the bomb making industries of the JMB have come to a halt due to an extensive crack down, investigators fear that smaller modules now may be engaging in a propaganda battle.Enamul Mollah, a JMB operative, who was recently chargesheeted in the Bardhaman case according to the NIA is a highly radicalised youth. He is alleged to have set up small modules which would indulge in propaganda war. It has been happening on a smaller scale, but if these modules succeed, then there is a good chance that the situation could flare up as there could be many takers in West Bengal. Enamul Mollah a resident of South 24 Parganas according to investigations is a highly motivated cadre of JMB. He has also been involved in harbouring of absconders of JMB. He had been in constant communication with absconding accused persons Moulana Yousuf and Abul Kalam @ Ibrahim and arranged shelter for them after the Bardhaman Blast. He assisted in recruiting new members for JMB and also spread their agenda by circulating Jihadi material. He arranged for a radicalisation program where the accused Kausar delivered jihadi speeches, the NIA also states. Read less...