STF detains six in West Bengal's Panagarh for alleged links to Bangladesh-based terror group

NEW DELHI: The Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police has detained a college student and five others in Panagarh, Paschim Bardhaman district, due to suspected links with the banned Bangladesh-based terror group Shahadat-e al Hiqma. The student, a second-year Computer Science major, was arrested from his Panagarh home on Saturday evening.
The STF officer reported that during the student's interrogation, additional information led to the arrest of five more individuals from Nababghat in the same district.Among those detained were the student's brother and four others attempting to join the terror outfit.
"The arrested person was trying to recruit youths from Paschim and Purba Bardhaman districts for the terror outfit. We are trying to find out who all were in touch with him," the STF officer told.
Seized from the student's residence were his laptop and several documents, including a diary. Shahadat-e al Hiqma is recognized as a banned Islamist terrorist organization in Bangladesh.
In a prior related incident, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a student from Kanksa, a region in the same district, in 2016 for alleged connections to ISI.