Kolkata, Aug 13 — Wahab Alam, the Pakistani national arrested from Habra in West Bengal, had plans to escape to neighbouring Bangladesh for some time, but only to come back to the state with a new identity and new assignments.
During interrogation by the sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF), Alam, who was reportedly sent to West Bengal by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to collect information about the Indian Army, Navy and Railways in the eastern sector of the country, has admitted he was supposed to escape to Bangladesh and stay there for some time as advised by his handlers in Pakistan.
By interrogating Alam as well as by examining the netbook, the STF sleuths have also secured the details of a currently Bangladesh-based ISI agent, Pavel, whom Alam was supposed to meet after escaping to Bangladesh.
Sources said that Pavel, currently operating from Jessore in Bangladesh, was supposed to arrange a safehouse for Alam in Bangladesh for the time being, update him on the new assignments in West Bengal and subsequently send him back to the state after a cooling period.
Alam has admitted that both he and his handlers in Pakistan became cautious after his name was deleted from the voters’ list following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise earlier this year before the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls.
He has admitted that his mentors in Pakistan advised him to move away from Topsia, where he was an enrolled voter earlier, and take shelter in any one of the India-Bangladesh bordering districts in West Bengal for some time before escaping to Bangladesh at the first opportunity.
That is where the idea of taking shelter at Habra in North 24 Parganas district came. In fact, he was arrested by the STF sleuths from Habra, and on the basis of his interrogations, his local associate at Topsia, Mohammad Izaz, was also arrested.
Not only did Alam stay at Izaz’s residence as a tenant in Topsia, but the latter was also instrumental in arranging fake Indian identity documents like Aadhaar Card, PAN Card and finally EPIC card for the Pakistani national.
Alam entered India through the India-Nepal border in 2012 and has since been staying in different pockets of the state, shifting bases from time to time.