Four detained in Banka for alleged terror links

PATNA: The Banka police on Monday picked up four youths for interrogation in connection with their alleged links with Pakistan-based terror outfits.


The youths, stated to be working for a Pakistan-based terror outfit, are residents of Laxmipur Chiraiya panchyat under Amarpur police station area in Banka district.

The suspects, engaged in drug smuggling, are reported to have been operating in the region for long and also took part in a meeting held in Maharashtra from March 16-18 this year.

Deputy inspector general ( Bhagalpur range) Vikas Vaibhav said on Monday the Banka SP and the other police officers have been put on alert and asked to verify the antecedents of the suspects, if any. He, however, didn’t rule out the possibility of somebody’s mischief behind it to settle personal score with the suspects.

The state police headquarters swung into action after being tipped off by intelligence agencies about the involvement of four youths from this east Bihar’s district in alleged drug smuggling from other states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal and passing on certain information to the Pakistan’s spy agency.

The DIG admitted that the region had no history of any terror activities. Moreover, the email addressed to the intelligence agencies suggested that the youths, working as conduit of the Pakistan-based terror outfit, were earning a good profit from drug cartel. “But we don’t want to take any chance. So an alert has been sounded in the region,” he told this newspaper over the phone on Monday.

In March this year, a similar incident had come to the fore from the same (Banka) district. An alert was sounded against two alleged Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives, who had threatened to create disturbances at PM Narendra Modi’s rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

Acting swiftly, the police picked up Mohammad Danish Parvez alias Naushad from Suryagarha in Lakhisarai district when he was on way to Banka from Patna. His cousin Mohammad Rehan, a resident of Chutia Belari village under Shambhuganj police station in Banka district, was earlier detained for interrogation.

The police heaved a sigh of relief as no untoward incident occurred during the PM’s rally in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on March 3. The police also didn’t get any clue about their involvement in terror activities or their links with any banned outfit.