[BITList] Terror squad may have sneaked into Bengal

[John Feltham]

Terror squad may have sneaked into Bengal
19 Dec 2008, 0250 hrs IST,
Swati Sengupta, TNN

KOLKATA: First, confirmation that the Mumbai terrorists used SIMs bought
illegally in Kolkata. Then, reports of HuJI operatives planning strikes
in Bengal. ( Watch )

And now, specific intelligence inputs that an eight-man hit team,
including HuJI terrorists from Pakistan and KLO militants, has sneaked
into the state through the Bangladesh border.

The alert has come from the Subsidiary Intelligence Branch (SIB), which
passed on the information to the state's intelligence unit. The state IB
top brass on Thursday informed home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti
about the threat.

Police, who are already on heightened alert, are gearing up for this new
threat. The BSF has also been warned. According to the SIB's
information, the group set off from their hideout in Bangladesh on
December 15. They had taken shelter in the house of Haider Ali, a
Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) activist of Bangar, in the
Ranisankhoil area of north Bangladesh.

Intelligence agents have learnt that the group paid Rs 2000 as rent per
day for their stay in Haidar's house. Two HuJI leaders from Pakistan —
Sk Alimuddin Quraishi (40) and Sk Jaimuddin Ali (45) — apparently led
the group from Ranisankhoil to help them cross the border. They are
learnt to be carrying a considerable amount of fake cash, arms and
ammunition and set out with the plan to cross the border at Maheshgaon
or Hemtabad, near Raigunj in North Dinajpur.

Apart from Quraishi and Jaimuddin, four members of the squad have been
identified — KLO militants Sheikh Naimuddin (25) and B Singha (27) and
HuJI operatives Sabbir Hussain (30) and Nasir Ali (25). "The names of
the others in the group has not been ascertained yet," says the note
sent by IB to the state government.

The group is learnt to have started from Ranisankhoil at 3:15 pm on
December 15, and are believed to have reached the India-Bangladesh
border that evening. No trace of them was found after that.

This ties up with intelligence inputs soon after the Mumbai terror
strike that HuJI-KLO teams might have entered Bengal armed with RDX.
Intelligence sources have revealed that a group of over 30 HuJI and KLO
members had entered Bengal through three different locations — one
crossed the North Bengal border while two others entered from south  
Bengal.

These groups are "consistently" planning attacks in Kolkata and another
location in south Bengal, and even in Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri, say
sources.


ooroo

If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door.

Anon.



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