Guwahati: Assam Police arrested two schoolteachers from the Dhubri district for their suspected ties to Bangladesh-based jihadi organizations, including Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).
The arrests have heightened fears of extremist infiltration into community institutions across the sensitive border areas of lower Assam.
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Police made the first arrest on August 27, taking into custody Shah Alam Sarkar, a teacher at Lakhimari Middle School, located near the international border.
Investigators allege that Sarkar actively engaged in recruitment, propaganda, and logistical support for cross-border radicals.
Authorities also revealed that Lakhimari Middle School, where Sarkar taught, was formerly a madrasa, Lakhimari Pre-ME Madrasa, before being converted into a SEBA-affiliated school in December 2023. Police suspect the school’s former status may have left behind networks that now facilitate extremist activities.
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Soon after Sarkar’s arrest, another teacher from the same school, Hazrat Ali, went missing, triggering a state-wide manhunt. Police feared he held crucial information about a wider sleeper cell network operating within the community.
Acting on intelligence, a police team led by Golakganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Debajit Kalita arrested Ali, also known as Hazrat Master, late Saturday night from the Kazigaon area in Kokrajhar district.
“We received credible inputs on Hazrat Ali’s movements and his suspected involvement in aiding jihadi elements. Our team acted swiftly and apprehended him from his hideout,” a senior police official told Northeast Now on condition of anonymity.
Both suspects are currently being interrogated. Authorities are probing their links to Bangladesh-based extremist groups and investigating whether they played roles in establishing sleeper cells in Assam.
The arrests have intensified concerns already brewing in Dhubri. Earlier this month, residents in Lakhimari and Bishkhowa villages reported receiving threatening phone calls from a Bangladeshi number.
The caller allegedly warned of “terrible consequences” for cooperating with Indian security agencies. On August 14, police also arrested a youth found carrying a Bangladeshi SIM card and national flag, further fueling suspicion of coordinated attempts to destabilize the region.
Security analysts believe these developments are part of a broader, organized campaign. Under “Operation Praghat,” Assam’s Special Task Force has already dismantled sleeper cells linked to the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) this year, particularly in Dhubri and Bilasipara.
The communal unrest during the June 2025 riots in Dhubri, combined with porous borders and demographic pressures, has created fertile ground for extremist groups to exploit identity-based tensions.
Investigators are focusing on Jamaat-e-Islami, a hardline Islamist organization in Bangladesh accused of spreading radical ideologies. Intelligence agencies are closely examining the group’s funding mechanisms, recruitment pipelines, and logistical operations in Assam.
“This is not an isolated threat. It’s a systematic attempt to create an ecosystem of extremism along India’s borders,” warned a top intelligence source.
The Himanta Biswa Sarma government praised the swift arrests, describing them as a “significant step in safeguarding Assam’s borders.” Senior officials reiterated that dismantling radical networks is essential to prevent Assam’s frontier districts from becoming safe havens for jihadi infiltration.
For many in Dhubri and Kokrajhar, the fact that two teachers, figures expected to educate and protect young minds, stand accused of extremist ties has been deeply disturbing.
“If our teachers turn into conduits for radical ideologies, it shakes the very foundation of our society,” said a concerned villager in Lakhimari.
What began as the arrest of a single educator has now exposed a potentially dangerous network spanning classrooms, communities, and international borders, placing Assam’s frontier districts on high alert in the fight against cross-border terrorism.