Suspected IS man sent to custody, two more held

A West Bengal court on Wednesday remanded a 25-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of having links with the Islamic State (IS), in 14-day police custody. Two of his accomplices have also been arrested.

Mohammad Masiuddin, alias Musa, was detained at Burdwan railway station on Monday and arrested on Tuesday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after his interrogation allegedly revealed links with "foreign extremists", including the IS.

He was presented before a court in Howrah which remanded him in CID custody for 14 days.

Musa was picked up by sleuths off a train at Burdwan railway station while he was on his way to his home in Labhpur in Birbhum district.

The CID on Monday also arrested two people said to be Musa's accomplices from Labhpur.

"Musa's interrogation revealed about the involvement of two more people in this connection. They have been arrested and brought to the CID headquarters in the city for questioning," said CID Deputy Inspector General Dilip Kumar Adak.

"The duo, Saddam Hussain alias Kalia and Seikh Abbasuddin alias Amin, was arrested from Labhpur," the officer said.

According to the CID, Musa is a native of Labhpur but lived in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu along with his wife and two children and worked in a grocery shop.

Police seized a 13-inch machete and an improvised firearm from his possession.

State and central intelligence agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), have been questioning the man.

The investigators are also studying the data recovered from his mobile phone which has revealed "his terror links", according to officials.

This year so far, four people have been arrested from West Bengal for suspected links with the IS.

The NIA in March arrested Ashik Ahammed alias Raja, a resident of Dhaniakhali in Hooghly district, for being an "IS facilitator".

Musa's arrest comes in the wake of the deadly terror attack in Dhaka in which 20 people were killed. The state has been on high alert with the Border Security Force intensifying vigil across the India-Bangladesh border.

The police has also not ruled out Musa's involvement with the Bangladeshi militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

An accidental blast at a house in Khagragarh in Burdwan district in October 2014 led to the NIA busting a JMB terror module in the state.

--IANS

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