Kolkata: The turmoil in neighbouring Bangladesh, brewing since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, has not come down by a sliver as it keeps snowballing day by day.
The alleged atrocities on minorities and the recent arrest of ISKCON monk Chinmoy Krishna Das have added fuel to the smouldering agony. The free run of radicals and fundamentalists is pushing the Bengali-speaking country, which was excised from Pakistan in 1971 following a genocide by the armies of the Pakistan military leader Yahyah Khan, back to the square again.
The Indian government has been minutely following the development in its eastern neighbour deploying police and sleuths in the border areas. The premonition of smugglers and militant outfits extending their arms to West Bengal amid the imbroglio can't also be ruled out by the security establishments as cross-border spillovers have been the norm in such situations.
Kolkata Police recently arrested a person with forged documents and fake currencies worth Rs 3 lakh from the Esplanade area at the heart of the city. Sleuths fear these currencies may have their origin in Bangladesh.
Additional commissioner of police and the incumbent STF chief, V Solomon Neshakumar, confirmed this fear. "We have information that several traders are in the business counterfeiting notes in Bangladesh and bringing them into Bengal," Neshakumar told ETV Bharat.
Intelligence officials are fearing for the worst as Bangladeshi militant outfits — like Jama'atul Mujahideen (JMB), Harkatul Jihad (HuJI), Ansarullah Bangla Team (ATB), Shahadat-e-al Hikma and Hizbut Tahrir — have already started activities given the present chaos the country is going through.
Neshakumar believes that these outfits are directly or indirectly backed by the Paksitant external intelligence agency, ISI.
"In the heated situation in Bangladesh, Pakistan's spy agency-backed militant organisations have started various activities to expand their influence in Bengal. ISI-groomed outfits are trying to join hands with several banned groups based in Bangladesh to expand their cross-border influence".
Recently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has come under the scanner after several Al Qaeda militants, arrested from Gujarat, were hiding in Kolkata's New Market and Beniapukur areas. All of them are Bangladeshi nationals. The NIA conducted searches in several places including Beniapukur. According to NIA sources, information about the support of intelligence agencies from neighbouring countries has also come to light. Highly placed sources in Lalbazar said the NIA apprised the Kolkata Police of the development.
Earlier, a joint STF team of Kolkata and West Bengal Police arrested several members of outlawed militant outfits from their hideouts in various districts like Murshidabad, Birbhum and North Bengal.
Intelligence sources said the Punjab Police intelligence department arrested a person, named Zafar Riaz, on suspicion of being a Pakistani spy in May 2022. He used to pass on Indian news to Pakistan. During an intense grilling, he revealed his Kolkata connection and his hideout in Beniapukur. He married a Pakistani lady and failed to Lahore.
The STF of Kolkata Police had arrested a person, Bhaktvanshi Jha, in August last year on suspicion of being a Pakistani spy as he had visuals of several important places in Delhi and Kolkata in possession and smuggling out them to India's western neighbour with the help of sophisticated technology.
In 2022, a person, Sameer Daan, was arrested from the Kalimpong area of North Bengal on suspicion of being a Pakistani spy. It is alleged that he took pictures of several army camps in Kalimpong and shared them with his mates based out of Pakistan.
"Over the past few years, due to action against banned militant organisations in Bangladesh, the movement of sleeper cell members in West Bengal has dwindled. Sometimes they roamed freely in the guise of masons, sometimes as employees of an organisation, and were involved in sharing news with forces inimical to Indian interest. After arresting several people, the militant organisations went in the backfoot," a high-ranking officer of the intelligence department of the state police said.
Sleuths are of the opinion that the banned Bangladeshi outfits are trying to reactivate their informants and sleeper cell recruits by using the volatile situation in the neighbouring country. Their primary goal is to cross over to the Indian side of the border with illegal firearms and counterfeits. They are targeting small traders in Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum and several places in North Bengal to expand the fake notes network across Bengal.
Given the gravity of the situation, detectives are keeping a close vigil on the militant organisations to preempt any nefarious activity.
"We are keeping an eye on their movements and are in constant touch with several central investigative agencies," Neshakumar said.
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