Pakistani militant arrested in Kolkata

KOLKATA - An alleged Pakistani militant, who was on his way from Bangladesh to Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested by Kolkata Police here Thursday afternoon, an official said.


‘Acting on a tip-off, the Special Task Force (STF) of the city police arrested a Pakistani terrorist, Shahbaz Ismail, from Fairlie Place (in central Kolkata) Thursday,’ Rajeev Kumar, special additional commissioner of STF, told reporters at a press conference at the police headquarters at Lalbazar.

‘Ismail came to India to conduct terrorist activities, though we are not sure if he planned to do so in Kolkata or was just using the city as a safe transit route,’ Kumar added.

Kumar said Ismail was a trooper with the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers till 2008.

‘During interrogation, Ismail said he joined Pakistan Rangers in 2005 and worked there till 2008. He was posted at Sialkot. Then, he left his job and joined a terrorist organisation, whose name we don’t want to disclose as this would hamper the investigations,’ Kumar said.

Ismail had left his Pakistani passport at Dhaka and entered West Bengal through the Malda border a few days back. He came to Kolkata Thursday morning from Murshidabad district, Kumar said.

‘Ismail was arrested while he went to buy a ticket to Jammu at the railway booking counter at Fairlie Place. We have recovered a Bangladeshi SIM card and some important documents from him,’ Kumar said.

‘We are interrogating him at Lalbazar to find more about the terrorist organisation and his purpose for visiting India,’ he added.