Police said the accused was in constant touch with his foreign handlers on social media and was trying to recruit locally.
Published Feb 12, 2023 | 7:31 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 12, 2023 | 7:31 AM
Mohammad Arif, the arrested terror suspect. (Supplied)
Sleuths at the National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with officials of the Internal Security Division (ISD), on Saturday, 11 February, conducted a search in Bengaluru’s Thanisandra area and picked up a terror suspect identified as Mohammad Arif.
Arif is a software engineer at an IT firm, is married, has two children, and is a native of Uttar Pradesh.
According to police sources, Arif was planning to send his wife and children to Uttar Pradesh, following which he was planning to head to Syria in March to join the Islamic State.
Arif was apprehended for his involvement in a terror conspiracy case, police officials said. They added that if his plans to go to Syria had failed, his plan B was to head either to Iraq or Afghanistan.
According to police sources, Arif was in regular touch with his handlers in foreign countries — Afghanistan and Syria — through social media and was looking to recruit candidates locally.
During the searches, various digital devices, including Arif’s laptop, mobile phones, and documents described as incriminating were seized from him.
The NIA, in their release, stated that inputs had revealed that the suspect was in contact with foreign-based online handlers affiliated to proscribed terrorists organisations — Al-Qaeda and Islamic State — over encrypted communication platforms.
They added that he was involved in a conspiracy to radicalise youth over social media platforms and provoke them to indulge in acts of violence and terrorism.
This operation on Saturday was a follow-up of a case initially registered at the Tilak Nagar police station on 24 July where two terror suspects were arrested in Bengaluru and Salem (Tamil Nadu), respectively.
In July 2022, Akhtar Hussain (23) a native of Assam, was arrested from his rented house in Tilak Nagar. He had been working as a food delivery executive for about a year.
The NIA had kept tabs on him and zeroed in on an associate of his who was working in a garment factory in Salem and had arrested him later.
According to officials, the accused were in constant touch with a terror organisation through a Telegram account and social media, and was planning a meeting to discuss about possible subversive activities.
The case was re-registered by the NIA on 30 November and the agency, in coordination with the ISD, is pursuing other accused members.
Karnataka Home Minister Araga Janendra said that said the arrest was made in a joint operation by central intelligence agencies and state police in a coordinated manner.
“Yesterday [10 February 2023] night, the police arrested a man Mohammed Arif from Thanisandra in Bengaluru following specific inputs. He is being interrogated,” he said in a statement.
He also said the police got information that he had links with international terror outfits.
“Anyone trying to associate himself with organisations that want to disturb peace and harmony by instigating communal sentiments and weaken India will be subdued,” Jnanendra said.
The police last year busted a Shivamogga-based IS-inspired terror module that had carried out blasts in Tunga river.
One of its alleged operatives carried out a blast in an auto on 19 November, 2022, in Mangaluru.
(With PTI inputs)
