NIA raids Yasin Bhatkal's Bihar associate Tahsim's house

Patna: Raids were conducted in Bihar’s Samastipur district on Monday to nab a terror operative considered close to Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, police said. “NIA team raided the house of Mohd Tahsim alias Monu, accused of several terrorist attacks, in Maniari village in Samastipur but he was not found,” a district police official said. [caption id=“attachment_1078907” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Yasin Bhatkal was arrested at the Indo-Nepal border last week. AFP[/caption] According to police officials, the NIA team also interrogated his family members. NIA had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for him and an arrest warrant has been issued against him. The search for Mohd Tahsim alias Monu has been on since early this year. “In last eight months, NIA had conducted three raids in search of him,” a police official said. Bhatkal is the brain behind recruitment of youth in Bihar to carry out terror attacks across the country. Bhatkal, wanted by police in 12 states for bombings and other terror activities in the last five years, was arrested in Raxaul in East Champaran district on Thursday. He was arrested along with Asadullah Akhtar, his terror accomplice. He revealed during interrogation that he recruited youth from Bihar’s Mithilanchal region, including Darbhanga, Madhubani and Samastipur districts, in the last few years, said a superintendent of police rank official. “Bhatkal confessed that he used to target young boys, mostly from poorest of the poor background, in Mithilanchal for recruitment to carry out terror attacks in the country,” said the official who was part of a team that interrogated Bhatkal in Bihar soon after he was arrested. The NIA team had arrested Mohammad Danish Ansari, an alleged operative of Indian Mujahideen, from Chakjora village in Darbhanga in January 2013. Ansari is allegedly a close associate of IM founder Yasin Bhatkal. Security agencies claim that Ansari provided shelter to Yasin Bhatkal in 2009 and 2010 in Bihar. IANS