20 with Bangla terror links missing in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Twenty Bangladeshi youngsters, believed to be in touch with Islamic terror organisation recruiters have gone missing from western UP over the years.

The revelation has been made in a report prepared by Anti-Terrorist Squad of the UP police, which arrested four illegal Bangladeshi immigrants linked to Bangladesh-based terror modules in the past 10 weeks.

All four had taken refuge in Saharanpur and were staying in Deoband, the Islamic seminary in western UP.

According to ATS sources, an alert has been sounded for absconder Faizan, who acted as a key recruiter and indoctrinated youth into jihad.

IG UP ATS Asim Arun said, “Faizan went missing from Saharanpur in the first week of August. We had recovered IS literature from his room and he had even scribbled a few things on a piece of paper used for making lethal bombs”.

Linked to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Ansarullah Bangla and other Islamic terror outfits, Mr Faizan, was apparently trying to wage war against the country and had visited Kashmir valley.

Through cash deposit receipts found in his room, the ATS found that Faizan had received money from different sources, regularly. “Most of the payments the group of illegal immigrants received were valued below `50,000 but we were surprised to see up to `9.80 lakh deposited in one go in accounts operated by them at Saharanpur”, the IG said. Other security agencies in the country have been alerted to look out for Mr Faizan.

Mr Faizan moved to UP in 2011 and stayed at Deoband. UP ATS started hunting for him from July 30 after a Bangladeshi nat-ional identified as Noman was arrested from Pulwa-ma district in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Noman had also stayed at Deoband briefly before shifting to Kashmir to wage a war against the country with IS-backed jihadis.

Mr Faizan, along with his close aides Fazar Ali and Abdullah, used to prepare forged government IDs for illegal immigrants.

Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested Mr Abdullah, while three other Bangladeshi nationals have also been arrested since August 6.

The four arrested were pursuing courses from different seminaries in Deoband.

Mr Faizan and Mr Fazar, however, are absconding and a reward of Rs 25,000 had been announced on both.