NEW DELHI: It was learned that the Indian intelligence establishment has intercepted crucial financial transactions with ties to wanted Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, suggesting that a Malaysia-based Rohingya group may be in an advanced stage of orchestrating a terrorist attack in the country by a group led by a woman.
Intelligence suggests that a group led by women, which has been trained in Myanmar, may attempt an attack on an Indian city in the coming weeks.
Late on Friday, the intelligence establishment alerted police and state intelligence offices in Delhi, Haryana, UP, Bihar and west bengal to intensify surveillance, confirmed a source.
An Intel document, seen by TOI, establishes that a series of suspicious transactions centered on India amounting to around 2 lakh dollars have been traced to Kuala Lumpur’s Rohingya leader Mohammed Naseer and controversial Islamic cleric Zakir Naik.
The Intel document states that a suspect from Chennai, likely a hawala trader, had received a portion of this fund. Digging deeper, detectives were able to deduce that a group would infiltrate India in mid to late December via Bangladesh.
The origin or any details related to the identity of the woman who allegedly trained in Myanmar for this attack is unclear, but it is suspected that she was sent to Myanmar from Malaysia earlier this year, a source said.
In communication to states, the possible objectives mentioned are Ayodhya, Bodhgaya, Punjab and Srinagar. The agency also suspects that some pipelines belonging to the People’s Front of India may extend support to the group for logistics, and therefore vigilance over elements associated with the team may be intensified, it says.
Intelligence sources said detectives were trying to find out if a Rohingya militant group that came under scanner last year for raising funds for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia was involved in the current set of transfers. Naik has been wanted by Indian authorities since 2016 on charges of money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speech.
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