Fear of ISIS recruiting : Assam police alerted

Guwahati: Assam government today said it has instructed all superintendents of police to remain alert and tighten security at all sensitive places in view of the possibility of ISIS recruiting youths from the state.

Replying to a discussion during the zero hour in the assembly, Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said all the SPs have been ordered to keep a strict vigil and maintain a close watch on doubtful people.

“Moreover, instruction has been given for tightening security at all sensitive places like railway stations, airports, historical places, temples, dargahs, refineries and shopping malls,” he added.

Patowary was replying on behalf of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who also holds the home portfolio, during the zero hour debate raised by BJP MLA Ashok Singhal on possibility of recruitment drive by ISIS in Assam and other parts of the country.

“We have also ordered to strengthen security along Indo-Bangla border and secure the river ways. Police have been strictly asked to maintain close coordination with various intelligence agencies,” he said.

Besides, security and other agencies have been keeping a close watch on social media as these can be tools of influencing youths for joining the global terror outfit, he added.

The minister informed the house that two trained members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were nabbed from Nalbari district.

Assam police, he said, has so far arrested 56 JMB extremists after the Burdwan blast in West Bengal in 2014.

“Apart from them 10-12 JMB members are absconding at present,” Patowary added without elaborating.