Goa police arrest 29 PFI members after ban on organisation

The Centre has banned the PFI and several of its associates for five years under a stringent anti-terror law, accusing them of having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS.

Panaji: The Goa police on Wednesday arrested 29 members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in the state after the central government imposed a ban on the organisation, an official said. These members were produced in a court, which ordered their release on personal bonds, he said. The Centre has banned the PFI and several of its associates for five years under a stringent anti-terror law, accusing them of having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS.

"After the ban on the PFI, a total of 29 members of the organisation were arrested during the day in the state, most of them from South Goa," a senior police official said. "All of them were produced before the Sub Divisional Magistrate, who ordered that they be released on personal bonds," he said. Two of the arrested PFI members were politically active in their respective areas in Vasco and Navelim, the official added.

Police said they will continue the drive against the members of the banned organisation based on the local intelligence inputs. In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had said some PFI founding members are leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations.

It also said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (PTI)