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PETALING JAYA: Indian intelligence agencies are believed to have intercepted financial transactions suggesting that a Rohingya group based in Malaysia may be at an advanced stage in orchestrating a terrorist attack in that country by a group led by a woman , The Times of India (TOI) reported today.
The newspaper’s report said that Indian authorities were also verifying whether these transactions had ties to the controversial preacher Zakir Naik, who was granted permanent residence in Malaysia.
Naik has been wanted by the Indian authorities since 2016 on charges of money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speech.
TOI said intelligence suggested that the group, trained in Myanmar, could attempt an attack on an Indian city in the coming weeks.
Citing sources who confirmed it, the report said that the intelligence establishment had alerted police and state intelligence offices in Delhi, Haryana, UP, Bihar and West Bengal to intensify surveillance on Friday night. Possible targets mentioned were Ayodhya, Bodhgaya, Srinagar and Punjab.
An intelligence document, seen by TOI, stated that a series of suspicious India-centric transactions amounting to more than RM820,000 (15 million Indian rupees) had been traced back to a Kuala Lumpur-based Rohingya leader and others. .
The document stated that a suspect from Chennai, probably a hawala (foreign exchange broker) merchant, had received some of this money.
Police believe the group would infiltrate India in mid to late December through Bangladesh.
The female leader was reportedly trained in Myanmar and is suspected of being sent to Myanmar from Malaysia earlier this year, a source said.
Police are closely monitoring the Popular Front of India, which may extend its support to the group for logistics, the newspaper added.
Intelligence sources said they were trying to find out if a Rohingya militant group, which went unnoticed last year for raising funds for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, was involved in the current set of transfers.
FMT has contacted Police Inspector General Abdul Hamid Bador for comment.
