Jamshedpur: The arrest of eight suspected Al Qaeda operatives by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Thursday is not the first instance of terrorist suspects being apprehended in the state. Over the years, the state has frequently come under the spotlight for its connections to various terrorist activities across the country.
Since its formation, Jharkhand has served as a safe haven and breeding ground for terrorist outfits, particularly for members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Over the past two decades, police teams from Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, and several investigative agencies have visited the state to conduct inquiries or make arrests.
Connections to SIMI and IM activities have been discovered in three major cities—Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Dhanbad. Links to terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), IM, and SIMI have also been exposed in smaller towns and remote areas of the state in the past.
Jharkhand’s vulnerability as a potential terrorist breeding center or hideout was first exposed in 2002. Two Pakistani terrorists, Zahid and Salim, who were involved in the Kolkata American Centre attack the same year, were gunned down in Khirgao, Hazaribagh.
In 2013, Jharkhand police arrested a Kashmiri militant in his early twenties who had taken shelter at a distant relative’s residence in Hazaribagh’s Palwal area. This arrest averted a major terrorist attack in Delhi.
In June 2011, Ranchi-based software engineer Danish Riyaz, alleged to be a SIMI leader, was arrested in Vadodara, Gujarat by the NIA and Gujarat police. Riyaz was allegedly involved in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts and other terror-related activities.
Another Ranchi-born youth, Faizrul Rahman, was arrested by Kanpur police from an internet café in Kanpur. Rahman was alleged to be a Pakistani intelligence operative working for the ISI.
In 2007, Rajasthan police arrested a suspect from Jamtara district in connection with the Ajmer bomb blast. During the investigation, it was revealed that mobile SIM cards used by terrorists prior to the blast were issued from Jamtara.
The arrest of Abu Faizal, a SIMI member, by Madhya Pradesh police in 2011 revealed that Jamshedpur was being used as a breeding ground by terrorist groups. Faizal had purchased a house in Jamshedpur, which was used to hold secret meetings of the banned outfit.
In 2019, Jharkhand ATS, acting on inputs from the NIA, arrested one MD Kallimuddin Muzhiri near Tatanagar railway station.
