Bengal: Two Suspected ISIS-Linked Terrorists Held In Howrah, Sent To Police Custody Till Jan 19

Two men with alleged connections to ISIS were held by the Kolkata Police's STF in Howrah, West Bengal. The duo was remanded to police custody till January 19 in being produced before a local court.

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The Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) on Friday apprehended two individuals from West Bengal's Howrah with suspected ties to ISIS. Sadam and Sayed, the two arrested, have been identified. They have been detained by police until January 19, news agency ANI reported. 

Two persons - Md. Saddam and Sayeed Ahmed - have been arrested from the eastern slope of Vidyasagar Sethu, Kolkata for recruiting young Muslim youths and collecting arms ammunition and explosives and to raise funds for terror: West Bengal STF pic.twitter.com/lSRuHQA3Bb

— ANI (@ANI) January 7, 2023

The two were arrested on suspicion of involvement in militant activities.

On Friday night, an STF unit raided the Howrah area and arrested Sayed for alleged involvement in militant activities. Sadam was arrested after giving police a statement.

Sadam, a resident of Aftabuddin Munshi road in Howrah, has previously been detained.

On Saturday, the two were brought before Kolkata's Bankshall court, where they were remanded in police custody until January 19.

The Arrest Of The Two Suspected Terrorists: 

A team of Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) hauled up the two from their hiding in Tikiapara's Aftabuddin Munshi Lane on Friday night, he claimed, acting on a tip-off from a central investigative agency, news agency PTI reported quoting a senior police official. 

"Both are implicated in the terror group's tentacles expanding in Howrah. We are questioning them to understand more about their responsibilities," the officer told PTI, adding that they were also involved in "brainwashing local children towards anti-national actions." He claimed that the two, one of them was an MTech engineer, were in contact with IS operatives in Pakistan and West Asia, the report said. 

"On social media, these two were promoting anti-national activities and radicalism. Their aim was to brainwash people, particularly young people in order to entice them to participate in jihadi activities. They used to disseminate footage of explosions and killings in order to stir anti-national sentiment among young people," he added, as stated in the report. 

"Several youths seem to have fallen into their trap," the officer remarked.

Several documents were taken from the duo during Friday's arrest, he added. STF detectives with the City Police assume a "huge brain" is behind the couple, who are linked to handlers operating in Pakistan or West Asia, according to the report. 

(With Inputs From Agencies)