Assam’s Special Task Force (STF) arrested 11 people in two northeastern States for their alleged links with a radical offshoot of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an extremist group banned in India.
The members of the newly-formed Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK) — 10 from Assam’s Baksa, Barpeta, Chirang, and Darrang districts, and one from Tripura’s West Tripura district — were arrested in a coordinated operation on Monday (December 29, 2025) night, STF chief and Guwahati Police Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta said.
The local police helped the STF nab the 11 men, based on the analysis of inputs on activities of the IMK module in India provided by the Central agencies, Mr. Mahanta said. “These jihadist elements were working under the direct orders of Bangladesh-based groups. Their main aim was to destabilise the northeast,” he told journalists in Guwahati on Tuesday (December 30, 2025).
According to information collected by the Indian security apparatus, the IMK was formed in 2018 by Jewel Mahmud, also known as Imam Mahmud Habibullah, an ex-JMB member. Apart from the JMB, leaders of the Ansarullah Bangla Team and Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent helped activate the IMK after the regime change in Bangladesh in August 2024, and expand its Indian module.
