12 Arrested Across States Over Links With ISIS, Al-Qaeda

The Andhra Pradesh police has arrested 12 individuals with suspected terror hyperlinks following a coordinated multi-state operation.

Special groups had been deployed in Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Rajasthan to arrest the suspects, police stated on Wednesday.

“Multiple teams were constituted and deployed across Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Rajasthan, leading to the arrest of 12 suspects linked to extremist networks, including three from Andhra,” an intelligence official advised PTI.

Three individuals from Andhra Pradesh had been recognized as Mohammad Rahmatullah Shareef, Mirza Sohail Beg and Mohammad Danish, all residents of Vijayawada metropolis.

According to police, the trio is allegedly concerned within the promotion of extremist ideology and coordinating actions linked to banned terrorist organisations.

The suspects had been in touch with international handlers linked to Al-Qaeda within the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and dealing in direction of anti-national goals.

Investigation revealed that the three individuals had fashioned a gaggle named “Al Malik Islamic Youth” with the target of radicalising youth, making ready them for jihad and increasing their community throughout the nation.

The Counter Intelligence (CI) Cell discovered that the accused established contact with banned terrorist outfits comparable to AQIS and ISIS, and had been appearing on the directions from international handlers.

The three had been allegedly working in direction of the idea of Ghazwa-e-Hind (conflict in opposition to India), and had expanded their community throughout a number of states by coordinating with operatives in several areas.

As per preliminary investigation, Rahmatullah, a motorbike taxi driver, was influenced by hate speeches of worldwide terrorist leaders and actively adopted and shared extremist content material on social media.

Rahmatullah, together with Danish, who’s a laser marking skilled, and Sohail Beg, who works at a restaurant, allegedly expanded jihad-related actions by means of on-line platforms.

Rahmatullah developed contacts with a international handler recognized as Al-Hakeem Shukur by means of social media and, on his directions, collaborated with Shadman Dilkush from Bihar and Saida Begum from Hyderabad.

Further, he established hyperlinks with people related to ISIS-linked “Benex Com” group, together with Ajmanullah Khan (Bihar), Lucky Ahmed (Delhi), Mir Asif Ali (West Bengal), Zeeshan (Rajasthan), Abdul Salam (Karnataka), Shah Rukh Khan and Shiyak Piyaz ur Rehman (Maharashtra), stated the official.

The accused allegedly carried out actions primarily based on directions from these operatives and used social media platforms to advertise extremist ideology and recruit youth.

The trio posted movies projecting themselves as Mujahideen, watched movies of Osama bin Laden and imitated him whereas partaking in radical propaganda, they stated.

They allegedly changed the nationwide flag with that of ISIS in on-line posts, mocked the nationwide anthem, burnt the nationwide flag, praised ISIS and unfold hatred in opposition to non-believers, declaring their goal of changing India into an Islamic state, they added.

Investigation additional revealed that they had been making preparations to journey to Pakistan inside a month to participate in coaching and had been additionally motivating youth to endure militant coaching in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Further investigation is underway to establish further hyperlinks and forestall enlargement of the community, police added. 

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