The Bangladeshi government in a recent report sent to the Indian Home Ministry has warned of an increase in infiltration of militants into India from across its eastern border, according to a report published in The Times of India.
The report further added that over 2,000 Hujl and JMB militants had made their way across India’s border with Bangladesh and were hiding in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. This is a marked increase from last year’s estimate by intelligence agencies which pegged the number of infiltrators between 800 and 659 for 2014-15.
The development comes on the back of findings by India’s National Investigation Agency, which had found terror links and the direct role of JMB in the October 2014 Burdwan blast at Khagragarh in which two suspected terrorists were killed.
State Officials Remain Sceptical
State officials from Bengal remain sceptical about the report, but Assam police seem concerned. Speaking on the matter, additional director-general of police (SB), Assam, Pallab Bhattcharyya, said:
There is certainly an increase in terrorist activity because over the last six months, we have arrested 54 JMB operatives... We have formed a high-powered committee of top police officers and MLAs to check infiltration. They visit the border regularly and conduct meetings with security forces.
What has also added to the concern of Indian authorities are reports that JMB secretary Iftadur Rehman entered India on 12 January this year on a fake passport and has established contact with other militants in Assam and Bengal.
Apart from that, we also have information that on 18 January, a meeting between linkmen from Assam, West Bengal and New Delhi and the top JMB and Hu-JI leadership took place in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh...A Source
Explaining the influx of infiltrators, a senior Bengal Police Officer said:
Previously, there were certain porous districts like Malda, Murshidabad or Nadia through which they came. Now, they are coming through Assam and Tripura and then entering West Bengal. This is easier and safer for them... Being a riverine border, it is difficult for security agencies to keep vigil.
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