Srinagar : A joint operation by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and West Bengal Police’s Special Task Force (STF) led to the arrest of a suspected terrorist from the Canning area of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. The accused, identified as Javed Munshi, is alleged to be a senior member of the banned terror organisation Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM).
Mushi received his training in Pakistan.
Munshi was produced before the Alipore court in Kolkata. The court granted him a transit remand until December 31, allowing Jammu and Kashmir Police to take him to Srinagar for further investigation.
Munshi, a resident of Srinagar, was hiding at a relative’s home in Canning after arriving in the region a few days ago, sources said.
Based on specific intelligence from Kashmir Police, we acted swiftly to arrest him,” an STF official said. The official added that Munshi was planning to cross into Bangladesh under the instructions of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives.
Sources from the STF described Munshi as an explosives expert and a weapons handler. “He has been linked to several terror-related activities, including the 2011 killing of Shauqat Shah, a leader of the Ahl-i-Hadith, and has previously served prison terms under terrorism-related charges,” a STF source stated.
Preliminary probes revealed that Munshi had travelled to Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan on multiple occasions using fake Pakistani passports, according to the sources. Earlier this month, a Pakistani mortar, believed to be from the 1971 war, was found near the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, according to the officials. At least 27 mortar shells from the 1971 Indo-Pak war period were found in West Tripura district in July.
