The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a software engineer who they suspect had plans to travel to Iraq and join the militant group the Islamic State (IS). This would be the second such suspected case by the ATS in the state where a youth has been “influenced to join the jihadist group.”
In May, four young men identified as Aarif Majid, Fahad Shaikh, Amaan Tandel and Saheem Tanki hailing from Kalyan district in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai went missing and are believed to have joined the militant group.
On August 26, Saheem called up his brother informing about Aarif’s death in a bombing in Iraq. However their families maintain that they have nothing to do with ISIS and had gone to Iraq for better job prospects without informing them.
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In the current case, the police arrested Anis Ansari (24), a resident of Kurla in Central Mumbai on the allegations of planning to attack a school run by an American organisation in Mumbai. The cyber cell of the ATS, which keep a tab on online activities stumbled upon Ansari’s plan after studying his online chats and posts on social media.
“We have studied his Facebook account and other online chats. and found that he was keeping a close watch on the activities in Syria and was also following many jihadist groups and leaders. His online chats reveals that he felt the need to fight for jihad,” the source said.
“We are still trying to get more leads on how he was planning to execute the blast? Where he was supposed to get the explosives from? And who are these people with whom he chatted online and was planning the attack,” the source added.
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A senior officer from the ATS told The Hindu that the suspicion of Ansari plans to travel to Iraq is the based on the recovery of the documents of the accused and also a detailed study of his online activities.
“We have recovered a passport application filed by the accused last month and during his interrogation he has revealed that he felt the need of joining the IS”, he said.
The police are now in the process of ascertaining the identity of the persons with whom Ansari chatted online. Most of the accounts are suspected to be fictitious and many people are believed to based abroad.