In the intervening night of May 8 and 9, teams of the Special Task Force of West Bengal conducted simultaneous raids at Nalhati and Murarai in the Birbhum district and arrested two persons — Ajmol Hossain (28) of Nalhati and Saheb Ali Khan (28) of Murarai.

“The two have been found to be propagating the ideology of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, which is a banned terror organisation in India,” claimed an official.

As per police, the arrested persons are allegedly part of a module that is engaged in “dissemination of seditious and jihadi materials” by using “encrypted, sophisticated” methods. They are also accused of planning to “target certain persons and places, which could harm the sovereignty and integrity of India”.

“They were engaged in recruiting and motivating Muslim youths to join terror organisations and radicalising them with a view to wage war against the Government of India,” said a police official.

As per police, Hossain earlier allegedly tried to enter Bangladesh in connection with “jihadi activities” and has “connections” in other parts in the sub-continent.

“The two, along with other associates, tried to procure firearms and planned to prepare explosives in order to propagate and practice the ideology of ‘Ghazwatul Hind’,” said the STF.

The two accused will be produced in the Court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) in Rampurhat, Birbhum on Friday with a prayer for police remand to conduct detailed interrogations and find other nodes of the module.