Kolkata: Terror outfits Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and Laskar-backed Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) are eyeing Bengal to create a support base among the economically challenged, especially migrant and semi-skilled workers, by opening training centres for their kids, as well as to open up unexplored border routes.
The arrest of three operatives over the past week indicate that both groups wanted to train young minds by constantly presenting them with fake narratives of "state repression" in an attempt to inculcate feelings against the nation. Security agencies said they have found literature among ABT members that indicate such indoctrination.
While the ABT module managed to open an institute in Murshidabad, Jawed Munshi, the IED expert who travelled to Bengal two days before his arrest, had shown interest in a parcel of land near Canning for a "school for children".
"The groups need logistical support. Opening such institutes help them create a cadre base that would remain loyal to their cause and act as a promoter of sleeper cells. Young minds are most impressionable, and spreading communal tension is also one of their stated objectives," a sleuth said.
"By exploiting local vulnerabilities, religious sentiments, and fault lines, they aimed to create a network capable of operating out of the main terror radar while staying loyal to their broader objectives, to create disruption and chaos in India," an Assam cop said after the arrest of eight ABT members.
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