GUWAHATI, July 5 - Keeping a close watch on the cyber space is one of the keys to prevent terrorist outfits like the Islamic State (IS) from launching their propaganda to influence youths, while the police and security agencies are working in close coordination to prevent such outfits from establishing roots in the State, said the Director General of Assam Police, Mukesh Sahay.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, the DGP said that though no footprint of the IS has been noticed in Assam till date, �we have to learn our lesson from the recent incident in Bangladesh and adequate precautionary measures will have to be taken.�
Sahay said that all the stakeholders have been alerted and surveillance has been increased in the areas where there is possibility of activities of modules of jehadi forces. He revealed that police and security agencies are working in close coordination based on intelligence inputs received from various intelligence agencies, including the Central ones. So far, the Bangladesh incident has not affected Assam, but precautionary measures have been taken to prevent any such incident, he added.
The DGP admitted that keeping a close watch on the cyber space is one of the keys to prevent outfits like the IS from influencing youths from the State. He said that both the Assam Police and Central agencies have started capacity building in terms of equipment and trained manpower to deal with the issue. �We have already increased our capacity to monitor the cyber space and some more steps are on the pipeline,� he said.
Stressing the need for increasing vigilance along the international border to prevent radical elements from sneaking into Assam from Bangladesh, Sahay revealed that senior officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) recently visited the bordering areas to chalk out plans to improve vigil along the vulnerable stretches of the international border including the riverine international border, which is considered one of the most vulnerable.
The DGP said that on its part, the Assam Police has also started making efforts to increase police presence in the riverine and char areas near the international border, which are considered vulnerable to activities of anti-national elements. He said that the process of acquiring new speed boats has started and at least seven new boats would be put into action shortly, while efforts are also on to set up new river police stations to increase security presence in the char areas.
It may be mentioned here that the IS, in a video launched recently, mentioned about Assam a few times, which proved that the State is on the radar of the outfit, while the outfit also started uploading propaganda material in Bengali through the internet to influence youths of Bangladesh and eastern part of Assam.
