The terror transporters of India

By Vicky Nanjappa

Rs 200 — That’s all that terrorists have to shell out to infiltrate into India. Along the border area of Bihar and West Bengal, the business of transporting terrorists is flourishing at a menacing pace.

Intelligence Bureau sources told rediff.com that there are over 500 persons involved in this business. The IB, which has been keeping a watch on their activity, says that these people charge between Rs 100 to Rs 200.

Very recently, the West Bengal Police had taken into their custody an operative named Kamal Hassan, who hailed from Madhubani in Bihar. He was brought down to Bengaluru as the police felt that he had a role to play in the Chinnaswamy stadium blasts, which were orchestrated by the Indian Mujahideen.

Whether Hassan was involved with these blasts or not is something that the police are yet to verify.

Hassan is just one among the many who are involved in this business. According to the IB, most of these are unemployed youth who more often than not transported terrorists without even knowing what they are getting into.

There is a lot of activity on the Bangladesh border and the Indian Mujahideen has used this turf to send in their trained cadres.

Moreover after a blast occurs most IM operatives have found the Bangladesh border to be a safe escape route. This is when the likes of Kamal Hassan have come into the picture.

Hassan reportedly told his investigators that many like him were involved in transporting people illegally across the border.

Mostly, security personnel across the border are bribed with Rs 100 to allow persons to cross over. However with the security beingstepped up, other routes, which have relatively lower security cover, have been discovered and this has been a cheaper option, Hasan added.

The Bengaluru Police is currently grilling Hassan for information. They suspect that Hassan helped fugitive terror mastermind Riyaz Bhatkal cross over to the Bangladeshi border when he had returned from Delhi.

The police is also probing whether Hassan, who has couple of his relatives working in an ammunition factory, was involved in transporting explosives used in the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts.

The IB, meanwhile, has launched a drive to round up these ‘transporters’.

Source : Rediff