Is-module recruiter used darknet to talk to handler

KERALA

THE REPORT “BJP leaders named as ‘independent’ directors in top PSUS” mentioned that Shazia Ilmi has been appointed as an independent director on the board of Engineers India Limited and that she is a mass communication graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia university. It is clarified that she is a post-graduate from the university. INVESTIGATION INTO the alleged module of Islamic State (IS) in Kerala has revealed that its recruiter Abdul Rashid used invisible internet project or darknet to communicate with his handler. A darknet is a network with restricted access and is mainly used for illegal peer-to-peer communication.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) suspects that Kerala-based Rashid, who allegedlyfledtoafghanistanlastyearalongwith 20 others to fight with the IS, used the masked internet service to talk to Shafi Armar alias Yusuf, identified as his handler.

The NIA stumbled upon this information while investigating a complaint filed by one Abdul Majeed. The latter had approached the agencywithacomplaintthathissonashfaque fled India to join IS after being radicalised by fourpeople,includingrashid.theothers,arshi Qureshi, Rizwan Khan, and Mohammad Haneef, have already been arrested and are in judicial custody.

While Qureshi was a guest manager of the now-banned Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), Khan was a volunteer with Mazgaon NGO Al Birr Foundation. Haneef was an imam based out of Kerala. “We interrogated Rashid’s brother. He revealed that Rashid had been using darknet for communication. He asserted that Rashid had not shared any more details regarding the technology. Since it is difficult to track digital footprint in the case of darknet, we haven’t been able to retrieve much from articles seized from his home,” said an official.

NIA officials said that in the chargesheet the agency will file next month, it will state that Ashfaque was slowly drawn into the IS fold through sustained indoctrination. This included showing him videos of the executions carried out by IS and articles in IS mouthpiece Dabiq.

Sources,however,saidtheyhavenotfound evidence to link televangelist and IRF founder Zakir Naik to the case. “While Ashfaque was a regular at IRF office in Dongri, we have not found any evidence to link Naik to the case,” sourcessaid,addingthattheprobehadalsorevealed that IRF didn’t fund any of Ashfaque’s foreign travels. “While the four accused radicalisedashfaque,thereisnocommonlinkconnecting them,” they added.

The agency has also recorded the statement of M M Akbar, Islamic preacher and founderofpeaceinternationalschoolinkochi, where Rashid taught. Akbar is learnt to have saidthatheexpelledrashidafterlearningthat he was conducting ‘jihadi’ training.