With terror modules thriving in Bihar, threat of 26/11 repeat looms large

T

he 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks taught many lessons to security agencies, not only in the country but also globally.

Even 15 years after that devastating attacks, the security agencies are constantly on their toes to prevent such a terror attack from happening again and they have by and large been successful in it.

States like Bihar may not face many terror attacks but many operatives having connections with various militant modules have been arrested from it.

The people of Bihar witnessed a terror attack a decade ago during the ‘Hunkar Rally’ of then prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, Narendra Modi, in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on October 27, 2013.

Apart from that incident, which claimed six lives and left 85 injured, no major bombing or terror attack has taken place in the state since then.

Now, Bihar has turned into a breeding ground for people having alleged links with terror networks or banned outfits.

Patna Police unearth a suspected terror module by arresting many operatives of the Popular Front of India (PFI) from Phulwari Sharif on July 14, 2022. After that sensational case, people of the country learnt terminologies like ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ and ‘Mission 2047’ to turn India into a Muslim country.

Patna Police arrested eight people in connection with the suspected Phulwari Sharif terror network and PFI. The investigators believe that they are connected with each other and hence two separate FIRs were registered soon after the raid on July 14, 2022.

In the PFI suspected terror module case, the sleuths had first arrested Athar Parvez, Mohammad Jalaluddin and Arman Malik. They revealed the names of Marguv alias Danis and Shabbir. Marguv was running a social networking group called ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ that was connected with the youth of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The investigators claimed that Athar Parvez was associated with the banned organisation Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and his brother Manjar Alam was involved in the serial bomb blasts in Gandhi Maidan during the ‘Hunkar Rally’.

Mohammad Jalaluddin also has some connection with SIMI. During that raid, the joint team had recovered some incriminating documents which indicate that they were involved in the brain washing of Muslim youths. They were also working on ‘Mission 2047’ to make India a Muslim country.

Since the matter was extremely serious, Bihar Police transferred this case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Subsequently, the NIA, the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) Bihar and Bihar Police jointly conducted several raids in various districts of the state, especially in East Champaran and arrested many PFI operatives.

Since Bihar is a border state having a long porous border with Nepal, it allows people to transit from one country to another easily. This puts an additional burden on the security agencies to keep an eye on strangers and anti-nationals. East Champaran district is located right on the edge of Nepal and this place is also known for the several PFI operatives it has churned out.

On October 9, 2023, Motihari Police arrested a PFI operative Riyaz Maroof alias Bablu from East Champaran district. Maroof was the state secretary of the PFI’s Bihar unit and was on the ‘Most Wanted’ list of the NIA and ATS, Bihar.

On August 5, 2023 in a joint operation the NIA and Motihari Police arrested two PFI operatives from the district. The two operatives Sayyed Reza and Mohammad Kaif were arrested from Ward Number 8 Officers Colony of Motihari city.

On July 19, 2023 in a joint operation, the Patna ATS and Motihari Police managed to arrest a PFI operative Usman Sultan Khan alias Yakub Khan from Chakia block in the east Champaran district.

On May 31, 2023 a team of the NIA conducted a raid at PFI operative Mahboob Alam’s house in Bihar’s Katihar District but he managed to flee. Alam’s house is located at Vansi Nagar area under Hasanganj police station in the district.

On March 17, 2023 the Bihar ATS managed to arrest the aide of the PFI chief from East Champaran District. The accused was identified as Irshad Ansari, the right hand man of PFI head Yaqub alias Sultan. Ansari is said to be on the ‘Most Wanted’ list of the NIA.

✔️ With terror modules thriving in Bihar, threat of 26/11 repeat looms large

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