Suspected Pakistani national among two held by West Bengal STF

Kolkata: The West Bengal STF nabbed two persons, including a suspected Pakistani national from near the India-Bangladesh border on Wednesday, officials said.

Rana Rauf alias Wahab Alam, a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, was arrested from Bangaon in North 24 Parganas district, they said.

Acting on specific information, STF personnel conducted a search in the Bangaon area and apprehended Rauf, they said.


Investigators suspect that Rauf has links with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and are examining his activities, contacts and movements in India, officials said.

The other person, arrested from Topsia late Tuesday, allegedly had direct contact with Rauf and had assisted him in several ways, they said, without disclosing his identity.

According to investigators, Rauf entered India illegally through Nepal in 2012.

"He had stayed in Nepal for some time before entering India and subsequently settling in West Bengal," an official said.

Rauf had been tracking the movements of various trains in the country and armed forces.

"We are also trying to ascertain what kind of information he was collecting and whether it was being passed on to anyone outside the country," an STF officer said.

"The person arrested from Topsia is being questioned to establish the extent of his association with Rauf and whether others were involved," he said.