Ham radio users detect suspicious signals in Urdu, Arabic along India-Bangladesh border

Amateur Ham Radio operators detect suspicious coded signals along Indo-Bangladesh border, raising concerns about extremist activities.

Amateur Ham Radio operators have picked up suspicious late-night radio signals in coded Bengali, Urdu and Arabic along the Indo-Bangladesh border in South Bengal over the last two months, raising concerns about possible extremist activities, officials said.

The development comes amidst ongoing unrest in Bangladesh and growing anti-India rhetoric in the neighbouring country.

The incident first came to light in December last when Ham radio operators detected unauthorised communications in coded Bengali, Arabic, and Urdu from Basirhat and Bongaon in North 24 Parganas, as well as from the Sunderbans in South 24 Parganas.

Alarmed by these transmissions, the operators informed the Ministry of Communications. The matter was subsequently forwarded to the International Monitoring Station (Radio) in Kolkata for tracking.

Ham radio operators have also been asked to monitor and report if similar signals are detected again.

"These suspicious radio signals have been picked up between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. The transmissions are in coded Bengali (with a Bangladeshi accent), Urdu, and Arabic. Sometimes, there are signals in another language that we couldn't identify. Whenever we asked those communicating to identify themselves, they went silent," Ambarish Nag Biswas, secretary of the West Bengal Radio Club, told PTI.

According to Mr. Biswas, the first such signal was detected by a Ham radio operator in Sodepur in North 24 Parganas district in mid-December.