ABT may be involved in crime incidents to generate funds: ATS

LUCKNOW: Involvement of randomly spreading network of al Qaeda-inspired Bangladeshbased terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in the state and other parts of the country is suspected behind some major crime incidents to generate funds.

A senior UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) official said so far the ABT’s role in terror activities in India has not been found but the group’s involvement is suspected in several crimes to generate funds for its activities in Bangladesh. He said the ABT group was involved in sensational killings of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh and its involvement also cropped up in bank heists to generate funds.

The ATS sleuths are trying to extract details about the ABT network from Imran, one of three Bangladeshi brothers, held from Charbagh railway station on Wednesday. The ATS had taken Imran into police custody remand and quizzing him on the same lines. The ATS court has granted his five-day custody remand from September 14 to 19.

A senior ATS official said Imran and his two brothers Rajidudeen and Mohd Firdaus were staying in Deoband, Saharanpur illegally and had prepared their forged Aadhar cards on local address. Imran was employed as teacher in a local madarsa and he was in continuous touch with Abdullah-al-Mammon, a key ABT operative who was arrested from Muzaffarnagar on August 5.

Imran came under the ATS radar as he and his two brothers were among 20 Bangladeshi immigrants who disappeared from their hideouts in west UP after Abdullah’s arrest.

“The ABT members’ working style suggested that they could be involved in similar crimes even in India to generate funds. The intelligence inputs also suggest that the group’s key operatives migrated to India when noose tightened around them in 2015 and they secretly started operating from different parts of the country,” said the official.

He said the ABT key operatives allegedly roped in some illegal Bangladeshi immigrants staying in India and prepared their fake identity proofs. The key operatives also used the illegal immigrants’ network to collect information about local people and committed thefts and robberies to generate funds for the group.

The official said Imran is been questioned about his other links in the country and the ATS team is also scanning his mobile call details. He said Abdullah may also be further taken into police custody remand if required.