PATNA: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of Bihar Police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) are trying to identify the source from where the Islamic State Bangladesh (ISBD) terrorist Khairul Mandal managed to procure hard copies of two secret letters, including a fax of the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA). The letters were sent to chief secretaries of all states, asking them to remain alert after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans had sacrificed their lives.According to top ATS sources, primary investigations revealed that Khairul was associated with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), another terror outfit, before joining Islamic State Bangladesh.Khairul and his associate Abu Sultan were arrested from the vicinity of Patna Junction on March 24 after they alighted from a train that reached the city from Gaya. Khairul’s another associate, Shariyat Mandal, was arrested from Pune in Maharashtra on Wednesday by a team of Bihar ATS. Shariyat was brought to Patna on transit remand on Friday and produced in a court here.The ATS also produced Khairul and Abu before an ACJM court here and sought their additional police remand for 15 days. The court, however, granted 10-day police remand of the three to the ATS.“The hard copy of a letter containing deployment plan of CRPF companies in Srinagar after the Pulwama attack was also seized from Khairul,” a senior ATS officer said, adding Khairul was carrying an iPhone and two cellphones.“It seems Khairul was using the iPhone for encryption as it can’t be opened if locked,” he said, adding the terrorist was also using an internet-based highly secure instant messaging application, which had earlier been used by other terrorists.The officer said Khairul was preparing sleeper cell of ISBD in India. “He was recruiting youths and Shariyat and Abu were part of it. While Shariyat was working as daily wager at Chakan, Abu was supposed to be deployed somewhere in the country by the terror outfit,” he said.

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