Youth arrested over suspected IS links

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested Ashik Ahammed alias Raja, a student of a private polytechnic college at Kanksa in Burdwan, for his alleged involvement in activities to strengthen ISIS module in West Bengal. 

The 19-year-old Ashik, a resident of Khamardanga Majherpara at Dhaniakhali in Hooghly, was picked up from a house where he used stay as a paying guest at Kanksa on March 25. He was brought to the Kolkata office of NIA and interrogated for some days. Later he was taken to Delhi and questioned by some top level NIA officers. He was finally arrested this morning. Investigating officers found that the youth was “facilitating to some of the key members of ISIS affiliated terror module, who wanted to recruit and radicalise youths in West Bengal”. Ashik was remanded in a 5 day custody by the NIA Special Court, Patiala House in New Delhi. The investigating officers came to know after interrogating Ashik that he was in touch with Md Nafees Khan, the head of the finance of the Indian module of the outfit. Nafees was arrested from Hyderabad in January. After interrogating Nafees, the NIA came to know about Ashik. Subsequently, he was picked up from Kanksa and came to know about their plan to set up a West Bengal module of ISIS, where the new recruits will undergo training. Nafees had come to the house of Ashik at Dhaniakhali in Hooghly a few months ago. During his stay in Ashik’s house, the duo had chalked out all plans to set up the module in West Bengal. It was also discussed from where the money required to set up the training module will come from. It was also divulged that the module will be like what the Jamat Ul Mujahideen (Bangladesh) used to run in some districts of West Bengal.  From Hooghly, Nafees had straightaway gone to Lucknow. Ashik had engaged two youth, who run two separate lottery shops at Tarakeswar station, to get tickets for Nafees. NIA had also questioned those two youth earlier. But they were found unaware about the activities of Ashik, thus released after questioning. Nafees had taken a local train from Tarakeswar station in Hooghly and reached Howrah Station. The same day he left for Lucknow taking a train from Howrah station. From Lucknow he went to Hyderabad where he was arrested. But he was in constant touch over online chat with Ashik.