The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested four terrorists with alleged links to Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) on Wednesday. The arrested accused have been identified as Mohd Faiq from Delhi, Mohd Fardeen from Ahmedabad, Sefullah Kureshi from Modasa in Aravalli, and Zeeshan Ali from Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Confirming the arrests, Gujarat ATS Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sunil Joshi said all four suspects were under surveillance for activities suspected to be connected to AQIS, a terror outfit affiliated with Al Qaeda. The operation was conducted based on specific intelligence inputs and coordinated surveillance, he added.
What was the mission of these operatives?
It said that these four individuals “worked together on Instagram to circulate inflammatory and provocative content, including jihadi propaganda material, violent videos, etc., in a bid to call for violence targeting institutions that remain critical to the governance of the Republic of India.
They have been booked under sections 13, 18, 38, 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and sections 113, 152, 196, 61 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.
How were they arrested?
ATS officials disclosed that the operation was carried out, relying on information received by its deputy superintendent of police, Harsh Upadhyay, which stated that five Instagram accounts were being used “to spread false and inflammatory statements against the nation, attract local youth towards terrorist organisations and extremist ideologies, and promote unrest and terrorist activities.”
Multiple accounts, including ‘sharyat-ya-shahadat,’ f4rdeen_03, mujahideen 3, and seffulah_muja_hid313, have been identified by the ATS. These accounts were allegedly used to disseminate videos from the proscribed terrorist organisation, Al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
A statement from an ATS Gujarat member detailed the objectives: “They aimed to propagate AQIS’ ideology under the name ‘Ghazwa-e-Hindi,’ to incite Indian Muslims to commit violence or terrorist acts against non-believers, encourage armed rebellion against the democratically elected government of India, and promote the establishment of an Islamic Sharia-based Caliphate in India and has an ideology to spread discontent against India.”
Furthermore, ATS officials reportedly discovered AQIS literature promoting jihad against India for its “Operation Sindoor” with one suspect, Fardeen Shaikh. Another accused, Mohd Faiq, was allegedly found to be collaborating with a Pakistani Instagram user to target the Indian government.
(With inputs from ANI)