Indian Intel Nails Islamic State Fanboys: Intelligence Agencies Find Over 30 Islamic State Headhunters Targeting Indian Youths for 'Holy War'
By
Abhishek Bhalla
12 Feb
2015
The
Islamic State’s (IS) body shoppers are still voraciously pushing more cannon
fodder into the war theatre’s furnace, Indian intelligence has discovered.
IS
sympathisers are active in Indian metros, hunting for potential recruits among
the youth attracted to the jihadi group’s ideology - and are on the radar of
the intelligence agencies.
Nearly
35 self-radicalised Jihadis have been identified as spreading the venomous
dogma of the IS, a new intelligence dossier suggests.
Some
elements seen as “IS sympathisers” and mentioned on the Intelligence list are
on a recruitment spree in fertile grounds in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore
and Hyderabad.
Based
on the inputs from the Intelligence Bureau and state intelligence units, a
dossier has been shared with the Union Home Ministry on those now under
surveillance.
Mail
Today has accessed the list of these suspects, but the names are being withheld
since the agencies are working on these inputs to develop more information and
track the suspects.
“A
group active in many cities is looking for people attracted to the IS ideology
and then indoctrinates them,” a government official said.
Sources
said the number of active supporters in this network could be higher. The group
is working on the ground and not in cyber space as its members fear they could
be easily tracked, the gathered inputs reveal.
Dossier
The
dossier mentions that the IS sympathisers are physically moving around to find
recruits.
“The
campaign is being carried out by word of mouth, not through the internet,” an
intelligence official said.
After
the arrest of Mehdi Masroor Biswas, a Bengaluru-based executive who was allegedly
posting material online in favour of the IS, the intelligence agencies began
monitoring cyber space, which has become the favourite recruitment hub for
terror groups.
The
urgency towards cracking the network of IS propagandists started soon after
British intelligence last month warned its Indian counterparts of possible
attacks by the terror group.
The
Sunni militant group, which earlier called itself the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been running a
reign of terror in Iraq and Syria to establish a caliphate and install its
commander as the supreme Muslim leader of the world.
Though
the Government has been maintaining that India faces no major threat from the
IS, sources said the incidence of youth supporting the IS in different parts of
the country was a worrying sign.
Stray Incidents
There’s
also the possibility that outfits like the Indian Mujahideen and Students’
Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) could be using the name of IS to recruit
Indian youth.
There
have been stray incidents of the IS sympathisers trying to garner support in
India, but it is the first time that the intelligence agencies have drawn up a
list of suspects.
Earlier,
two youths from Tamil Nadu were arrested by the state police for openly
supporting the group. Abdul Rehman and Rilvan were accused of abetting criminal
activity after they distributed T-shirts with an ISIS logo to garner support
for the group.
There
have also been incidents of youths in Kashmir waving IS flags to show
solidarity with the group.
Similarly,
four youths from Hyderabad were nabbed in Kolkata. They claimed they were going
to Iraq via Bangladesh. These students were not arrested, but investigations
revealed that they were recruited in the name of the IS.
The
Intelligence agencies have been tracking Indian support for the IS after four
men from Kalyan, Maharashtra, joined the jihadi group while on a pilgrimage to
Iraq.
While
one of them, Arif Majeed, has returned and is in the custody of the National
Investigation Agency (NIA), Aman Naeem Tandel, Fahad Tanvir Shaikh and Sahim
Farooq Tanki are still said to be active IS members.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2951295/Intelligence-agencies-30-Islamic-State-headhunters-targeting-Indian-youths-holy-war.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/indian-intel-nails-islamic-state/d/101491