When questioning the six arrested in Murshidabad on Saturday, NIA detectives have uncovered the identities of two Malda people who work in conjunction with them, he said.
“There are more members spread across other districts in West Bengal, as well as other states that have ties to al-Qaeda. In fact, the two from Malda were present at a meeting at Murshidabad’s home on Thursday night. They had left. the place early Friday morning and all six were arrested by the NIA on Saturday.
“The two are now on the run and a search has begun,” the official told PTI on Monday.
According to NIA sources, of the six detained, two are students with close ties to some people in Kashmir.
Some confiscated SIM cards, the laptop and mobile phones used by these two students, revealed their ties to “unknown” people in Kashmir.
“One of the two is a second-year computer science student at Basantapur Engineering College in Domkal, while another is a freshman at a university in Karimpur. The laptop and mobile phones these two were using They showed various contacts in Kashmir, Kerala and other states, they used various SIM cards, various WhatsApp chats and video conferences were held with these numbers.
“There are several groups created on WhatsApp (by them). Various communication applications were also used. We are questioning them,” he said.
NIA detectives raided the home of Abu Sufiyan, one of six arrested in Murshidabad, on Sunday night and questioned members of his family, the officer said.
They confiscated electrical circuits and other devices from a concrete bunker found inside Sufiyan’s residence, it added.
The NIA arrested nine terrorists associated with a Pakistan-sponsored module of al-Qaeda, the transnational terrorist group, on Saturday after conducting simultaneous raids at multiple locations in Kerala and West Bengal.
The raids were carried out on Saturday in Ernakulam in Kerala and Murshidabad in West Bengal.
The NIA learned of an interstate module of al-Qaeda operatives in various locations in India, including West Bengal and Kerala.
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