Two suspected terrorists having links with an Al-Qaeda network in Bangladesh have been arrested in Assam’s Barpeta district, police said on Tuesday.

According to senior officials, one was arrested on Sunday night from Garemari Pathar and the other was apprehended from a village in Kalgachia area on Tuesday morning.

“The suspect arrested on Sunday night is in police custody for eight days. The other person will be produced before a court within 24 hours of his arrest,” a senior official said.

Assam Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Gyanendra Pratap Singh had on Monday said 11 people were arrested in Morigaon, Goalpara, Guwahati and Barpeta for their alleged links with Bangladesh-based terror outfit Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT) and they are currently in police custody.

Meanwhile, a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reached Barpeta on Tuesday to interrogate all the alleged “ABT members arrested in the last five days”, the senior officials said.

Police sources confirmed that they are now being interrogated by the NIA team as well as officials of the Special Branch of Assam Police in Barpeta.

Singh had claimed that the “investigation confirmed the links of 11 arrested people with ABT”.

In Morigaon, one person, identified as Mufti Mustafa managing the Jamiul Huda Madrasa in Soruchola village under the Moirabari Police Station limits, was the first to be arrested on the intervening night of July 26 and 27. A computer shop owner Afsaruddin Bhuyan was apprehended the next day.

The remaining arrests were also made on the intervening night of July 26 and 27.

Singh had stated that police were maintaining surveillance on private madrasas across Assam for any “suspicious activities” and necessary action would be taken if there were any inputs in this regard.

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