Kolkata: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police arrested another active member of the Operation Group of Al-Qaeda's Indian sub-continent network Ansar Bangla Team (ABT), Umar Farrukh, alias Mahi, alias Aftab, from Indo-Nepal border on Tuesday evening.
Acting on a tip off, a team comprising STF officers conducted a raid in a village in the bordering area and arrested Mahi.
Sources said that Mahi, who is involved in killing of bloggers, had a plan to escape to Nepal to avoid arrest.
He chalked out a plan to escape through Nepal knowing that vigil along the Indo-Bangladesh border has been intensified and there were high chances of getting arrested if he would have tried to flee to Bangladesh.
The police came to know about Mahi, who is a Bangladeshi national, from Sahadat who had helped him enter India by crossing Indo-Bangladesh border.
Investigation revealed that he, along with a few other ABT activists, had entered the country through the bordering Gachha village at Basirhat in North 24-Parganas. They had also stayed in a village for a few days before spreading out to different parts of the country. It may be mentioned that the police had arrested Samsad Mia (26), alias Tanvir and Riyaz (25), alias Riyazul Islam from Kolkata Station on November 22. Monotosh De, an arms dealer, was also arrested on the same day. Later police arrested Sahadat from Sealdah Station and came to know that he had helped some of the ABT activists to cross the border. From him, the cops came to know about two other activists — Shopon Biswas, alias Tamim and Nayan Gazi (28), alias Zafor.
Sahadat had helped Tamim and Zafor to get shelter in a hotel near Howrah Station where they stayed during the first week of October.
Police went through the CCTV footages of the hotel and other documents which revealed that Mahi had also been staying at the same hotel.
Police had initiated an intensive search for Tamim, Zafor and Mahi. A police officer said Mahi could be aware about the whereabouts of the two others which would help in the arrest of the other two.