In an Intelligence Bureau-led operation over the last few days an Islamic State-linked terror module was busted in Ratlam which was being persuaded by its Syria-based handlers to target BJP and RSS leaders, apart from police officers, outside Madhya Pradesh. The intelligence agencies said the five-member group comprising of Imran Khan, Waseem, Rizwan, Anwar Qureshi and Mazhar, who are under arrest now had, on the instructions of one Yousuf-Al-Hindi, acquired two pistols and learnt how to assemble IEDs from locally available explosives.
The exact identity of Yousuf, who had been interacting with the module through cyber chat, first from his base in Afghanistan-Pakistan border and, more recently, from Syria, is yet to be established, agencies suspect him to be either Sultan Armar or Shafi Armar, both brothers and residents of Bhatkal in Karnataka. Sultan and Shafi are active members of the Indian Mujahideen who had escaped to Karachi in 2009-10.
The arrested members of the busted ISIS module, who all are residents of Ratlam, and are radicalized by Yousuf over the internet during the course of last one year. The latter was guiding each and every action of the module and training its members on how to make bombs with locally available explosives. The idea, was to assemble such IEDs and use them to launch terror attacks on prominent BJP / RSS leaders as well as police officers involved in the crackdown on terror. This would ensure establishing its footprint in India.
The group has travelled extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand just before their arrest. Imran Khan, 32 and his four friends admitted to have spent considerable time in Lucknow and Dehradun. Police are trying to figure out whether the five youths also reached Varanasi and Ayodhya.
Imran, who was leader of the IS module, had travelled to Dubai on five occasions between 2003 and 2008 and once to Saudi Arabia. He told his family that he was travelling abroad in search of employment, but he never landed a job on any of these trips.
Intelligence sources said that the agencies had been tracking the Ratlam module for a long period, particularly regarding their online activity with Yousuf. "The IB-led operation was backed by sustained investigation and follow up of leads during the last few days," resulting in the arrest of the five radicalized youth. The last arrest was that of Anwar Qureshi on May 2. The Ratlam operation is the part of pro-active efforts by the intelligence establishment to track attempts by ISIS to radicalize and recruit Indian youth via the social media.
By Premji
