Mumbai – NIA court sends 3 more B’deshis to jail for harbouring ABT terrorists
New Delhi/Mumbai. NIA Special Court, Mumbai, on Thursday sentenced to five years imprisonment three Bangladeshis for harbouring Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) terrorists from Bangladesh in Pune.
Mohammed Habibur Rehman Habib @ Raj Jesub Mandal, Hannan Anwar Hussain Khan @ Hannan Baburali Gazi, and Mohd Azarali Subhanallah@ Raja Jesub Mandal have been convicted and sentenced to 5 years in jail, along with Rs 2,000 each as fine, under relevant sections of the IPC and Foreigners Act.
With this, five accused have been convicted and sentenced in the case. Two others, identified as Ripen Hussain @ Rubel and Mohmmad Hasan Ali Mohammad Amer Ali, were convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment each earlier in October 2023.
The case was registered originally by Pune police in March 2018 on the basis of inputs regarding several Bangladeshi nationals staying in Pune without valid documents, and abetting and aiding members of ABT, a front organization of the proscribed terror organisation, the Al Qaida. The police had intercepted Habib at Dhobighat, Bhairoba Nala, Pune in Maharashtra, and subsequently arrested a total of five Bangladeshi nationals in the case.
NIA, which took over the case in May 2018, found that the arrested Bangladeshi nationals had illegally infiltrated into India. They had fraudulently obtained PAN cards, Aadhaar Cards, Voter IDs, and Ration Cards etc, under fictitious names by providing fake documents. They had used these documents for procuring Indian SIM cards, opening bank accounts, and seeking employment in India. NIA investigations further revealed that the accused had harboured and funded several ABT cadres, including a key member, Samad Mia @ Tanvir @ Saiful @ Tushar Biswas @ Tusar.
