Suspected member of Kashmiri militant outfit arrested in West Bengal

A suspected member of a militant outfit in Kashmir Valley was arrested on Sunday in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, a senior police officer confirmed. Javed Munshi, believed to be associated with the outlawed ‘Tehreek e Mujahideen’ militant group, was apprehended by a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir Police and West Bengal Police’s Special Task Force near Canning Hospital.

Javed, who claimed to be visiting a relative’s residence in Canning town for personal reasons, has long been wanted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police for his alleged involvement in subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley. The officer stated that the ‘Tehreek e Mujahideen’ is controlled from Pakistan and has ties with other militant groups in the region, including those in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

He added that ‘Jihadi literature’ was found in the possession of Javed who had been tasked with indoctrinating locals into the ideology of outfits such as ‘Tehreek e Mujahideen’ and recruiting Muslim youths into the outfit for their goals.

The officer said “We are investigating with the J&K Police whether he was building a sleeper cell network in South 24 Parganas district. We are also verifying if he is an IED expert and who his local contacts were.”

Following his arrest, Javed was remanded in transit custody until December 31 after being produced in Alipore court. This arrest comes after a recent crackdown on eight suspected members of the ‘Ansar-al-Islam’ Bangladesh terrorist group, who were allegedly planning to target the ‘chicken’s neck corridor’ linking West Bengal’s Siliguri with the north-eastern states.