Fifth suspected ABT member held in Guwahati

Guwahati: A suspected member of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a chapter of the al-Qaida in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), was arrested in Guwahati on Wednesday evening in connection with a case registered in Goalpara district, police said.
The investigation into a case registered at Matia police station in Goalpara district, where two imams with alleged AQIS links were arrested on August 20, has led the police to arrest the fifth ABT member, identified as Ajmal Hussain (39). He was first picked up by the Goalpara Police with the help of Guwahati Police from the Fatasil Ambari area of the city.
After a thorough interrogation, he was arrested on Wednesday night.
“His (Hussain) statements corroborated with the statements of one of the two imams — Abdus Subhan — arrested on August 20. He has confessed to being a member of ABT. He admitted to giving shelter to Bangladeshi jihadis at his place in Guwahati and underwent AQIS training in Barpeta,” said VV Rakesh Reddy, Goalpara SP. The second arrested imam was Jalaluddin Sheikh. Based on the interrogation of the imams, police arrested madrassa teachers Abdus Sobahan and Mufti Hafizur Rahman on August 25 and 26 respectively. The SP said both the madrassa teachers were recruited by the imams. All the five arrested by the Goalpara Police so far have links to the Barpeta and Morigaon modules of the ABT group busted in July.
Meanwhile, the madrassa at Kabaitari in Assam’s Bongaigaon district, where Mufti Hafizur Rahman was engaged as a teacher for the last several years, was demolished by the state government on Wednesday.