Assam Police seize incriminating documents from arrested PFI leader's house in Baksa during search operation

National as well as state security agencies have gone cracking down on proscribed Islamic organisation Popular Front of India and its affiliates and have managed to arrest many of its workers and leaders suspected of carrying out terror activities in the country.

In the latest run-up to the ongoing action against PFI, a leader of the student wing of PFI, Campus Front of India (CFI), identified as Amir Hamza was arrested from Bengaluru on November 11. The arrested CFI leader is reported to be a resident of Assam’s Baksa district, who went into hiding following Centre’s ban on PFI and its affiliates for five years.

As per latest reports, Assam Police team along with arrested Assam CFI President, Amir Hamza has reached Guwahati from Bengaluru. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Bengaluru granted Assam Police a three-day transit remand for Hamza following his arrest. 

Following Hamza’s arrest, Baksa police carried out a search operation at his residence and recovered huge numbers of incriminating documents which include PFI/ CFI/ anti CAA, Pro Hijab  banners, posters / leaflets and anti BJP, anti RSS and anti ABVP posters, several numbers of Bank Passbooks, PFI and CFI letter pads.
Hamza will be produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate in Guwahati on November 14. An investigation into his alleged role as the chief of the student wing of the proscribed organisation is under scanner and linkages with any other terror module in the country.

It needs mention here, the National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate along with the state police carried out a massive crackdown on the proscribed organisation PFI and its affiliates across several states.
According to an official source, the Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the PFI, was highly proactive in recruiting from educational institutes. Even during the pandemic, it ran recruitment drives, physically and digitally, at top educational institutes such as Gauhati University, Cotton University and Barpeta Law College. Regular programmes such as Edu Next were being conducted for creating future leaders for the community.

The primary agenda of the PFI’s Assam unit was to collect funds, hold physical and digital meeting to radicalise Muslim youths and incite people against the government and its policies. “Initially, they offered education and healthcare support to attract people. Once people got hooked, they began radicalising, particularly the youth. That was their strategy,” says a top cop of Assam police. The banned outfit had strong influence in 10 districts of Assam—Barpeta, Dhubri, Baksa, Goalpara, South Salmara, Bongaigaon, Kamrup, Darrang and Udalguri and Sonitpur.