Assam: Madrasa teacher arrested, 5 detained, alleging terrorism

Guwahati/Morigaon: A madrasa teacher got arrested, and five others were detained from another girl's madrasa in Assam's Morigaon district on alleged links with jihadi terrorist groups, IANS reported.

Assam Police arrested Mufti Mustafa Ahmed, who runs Jamiut-ul-Huda Madrassa, on Thursday morning after they received intelligence information that suspicious activities were going on within the madrasa premise.

Police seized a few mobile phones, bank passbooks and other 'objectionable' materials from Mustafa, who was alleged to be running terror modules from his madrasa.

Morigaon Superintendent of Police (SP) Aparna N informed IANS that after questioning the arrestee, police produced him before the court in the afternoon.

Regarding the detention of five others in the girls' madrasa in the Saruchala area, SP Aparna said, "Their interrogation is going on, we have not arrested them so far."

She also said that more details could be divulged only after further investigation.

According to her, further details require more investigation into the madrasas located in remote areas of the district.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma reacted to the incident by saying, "The government-run madrasas have already been shut down in the state. These are two religious madrasas. We have already sealed one, and the district administration was instructed to shift the children from there to a nearby school."

Assam's director general of police (DGP), Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, claimed that al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) had shown signs of expanding its base in Northeast India. According to him, al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri issued an appeal to his groups to intrude into the state.

"Their quarterly magazine is now published in Bengali, with an aim to radicalise youths from Assam, which may be very dangerous," the Assam top cop claimed.