CTTC chief denies IS India head Farooqi was in Bangladesh

According to Indian media reports, Haris Farooqi was arrested after entering India from Bangladesh

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime or CTTC Unit has dismissed media reports that the head of India’s Islamic State wing Haris Farooqi had been in Bangladesh.

CTTC chief Additional Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman said on Monday that the suspected terrorists recently arrested in India had never been in Bangladesh.

“This is my clear statement regarding reports of their arrest on their way to India from Bangladesh or their staying in Bangladesh that the environment in Bangladesh does not allow any militants. They don’t have any hideout here,” he said.

He said the Indian authorities can inform Bangladesh if they have any specifics on the location of the IS militants.

The Hindu in a report citing the Hindustan Times, BBC Bangla and the Press Trust of India said Farooqi and his associate Anurag Singh alias Rehan were caught in Assam’s Dhubri near the border with Bangladesh early on Mar 19.

In the PTI report that cited Assam Police spokesman Pranab Jyoti Goswami, the Hindu said Farooqi was a native of India’s Dehradun, while Rehan was from Panipath.

Rehan converted to Islam and his wife is a Bangladeshi citizen, according to the report.

Citing police, the PTI said Farooqi and Rehan were arrested following inputs from an intelligence agency that they would enter India through Dhubri from their Bangladesh hideout to carry out violence in India.