A suspected terrorist wanted by Jammu and Kashmir police was arrested on Saturday night from a house in Canning, around 60km from Calcutta, just before he could slip into Bangladesh, officers said.

Bengal police’s special task force (STF) arrested Javed Munshi, an allegedly Pakistan-trained Kashmiri militant, from an apartment rented by the brother-in-law of a friend.

Officers said they had discovered that Munshi had visited Bengal multiple times during the Covid pandemic, too, staying in areas on Calcutta’s fringes for several days at a time. The reason for his Bengal visits is under investigation, they added.

They described Munshi as a “big catch”, saying it was rare for an operative of a Jammu and Kashmir terror module to be hiding in faraway Bengal, or to get arrested in the eastern state.

STF officers said Munshi was an explosives and weapons expert affiliated to the banned Kashmiri outfit Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, which aims to merge Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan and promotes pan-Islamist ideas.

They said Munshi was caught just as he was about to flee to Bangladesh through the porous border on the instructions of his handlers in the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

“He has a history of involvement in terror-related activities, including a suspected role in the 2011 murder of Shauqat Shah, a leader of the Ahl-i-Hadith, a Salafi organisation. He has served multiple jail terms on terrorism-related charges,” a senior
STF officer said.

Munshi has been arrested in connection with a case registered under the anti-terrorism Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act with the Shaheed Gunj police station in Jammu and Kashmir.

The STF and Baruipur police arrested Munshi in a joint operation after receiving information that he had taken shelter in a house in a remote village in Canning, South 24-Parganas.

An officer of the Baruipur police directorate said Manawar Piyada, the landlord, had rented the house out to Gholam Mohammad and
his wife Tabassum.

“Gholam Mohammad is a shawl seller from Kashmir and has been living in Canning for years. Many in the neighbourhood described him as a peace-loving person,”
the officer said.

“He recently shifted to an apartment in Dhalipara, taking it on rent for seven months, from November to May.”

Police sources said Gholam had rented the house at ₹5,500 a month, paying two months’ rent in advance. They added that Munshi had arrived in Bengal and put up in that house on Friday.

Officers claimed that Munshi had during the interrogation admitted to having visited Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan several times on the instructions of his Lashkar handlers, using fake Pakistani passports.

On Sunday, Munshi was produced in the Alipore court, which granted transit remand till December 31. He has been handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir police, who will take him to their home state.

Last week, two operators of the Bangladeshi terror outfit, Ansarullah Bangla Team, were arrested in Murshidabad by a joint team of Assam police’s special task force and the Bengal police.