Bengal: Man with suspected links with ISIS held

A terror suspect was arrested while two more were detained by the criminal investigation department (CID) from Burdwan and Birbhum. The arrested accused, Mohammed Masihuddin, alias Musa (25), was apparently in touch with ISIS leader Shafi Armar in Syria through different social networking websites and emails and was entrusted with building an ISIS module and recruitment in West Bengal, the CID suspects.

Using similar communication route Musa, who originally hails from Labhpur in Birbhum, was also in touch with at least two ISIS members in Bangladesh and is proficient in at least five languages, the CID learnt. He was living with his wife and two children at Tirupur in Tamil Nadu over the last four years and worked at a grocery shop there.

On Tuesday, CID deputy inspector-general (operations) Dilip Adak said, “Acting on a tip, we caught Musa from a coach of the Visva Bharati first passenger train at Burdwan railway station on Monday evening when he was travelling to Labhpur from Howrah following his arrival from Chennai. Preliminary investigations suggest he may have links with ISIS. We are not ruling out the possibility. Later Musa was taken on a raid at different places.”

An Android smartphone, an improvised firearm with three rounds of ammunitions and a 13-inch-long dagger were seized from Musa. According to sources, the central intelligence agency’s officers were shadowing him since he boarded a Howrah-bound train from Chennai. Reaching Howrah railway station on Monday morning, Musa visited a market in Esplanade and bought the dagger.

Mr Adak added, “Different central and state intelligence agencies are interrogating him to know if he has association with any other extremist group outside the country. His smartphone is also being examined.” Sources claimed that during interrogations Musa named his two aides — Sheikh Kalu and Sheikh Amin — who were waiting to receive him at Labhpur railway station.

Kalu and Amin, who work at a garment shop in Labhpur, were detained by the CID for questioning. Mr Adak elaborated, “Musa has been booked under the Arms Act. He will be produced at the Howrah Court on Tuesday.” The CID will seek Musa’s remand. It is planning to slap sedition and terror charges on him.