West Bengal: Two suspected Islamic State-linked terrorists arrested in Howrah

Kolkata Police's special task force arrested two persons, suspected to be terrorists allied to the Islamic State, from Howrah's Tikiapara area, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off from a central investigating agency, a team of Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) picked up the two from their hideout in Tikiapara's Aftabuddin Munshi Lane on Friday night, he said.

"Both of them are involved in spreading tentacles of the terror group in Howrah. We are questioning them to understand more about their roles," the officer told PTI, adding that they were also involved in "brainwashing local youths towards anti-national activities."

He said the two, one of whom was an MTech engineer, were in touch with IS functionaries in Pakistan and West Asia.

"These two were promoting anti-national activities and radicalism on social media. Their aim was to brainwash people, especially youth to lure them towards jihadi activities. They used to spread videos of explosions and killings to incite anti-national sentiments among youth," he added.

The officer said that "several youths seem to have fallen into their trap". During Friday's arrest several documents were seized from the duo, he added.

City Police's STF sleuths suspect that there is a "big brain" behind the duo who are linked with handlers operating in Pakistan or West Asia. The duo was remanded to police custody till January 19 in being produced before a local court.

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