Al-Qaeda terror module busted: Gujarat ATS arrests four suspected terrorists

A terror module of al-Qaeda including four terrorists involved in propagating the ideology of the global terror outfit and recruiting youth via social media has been busted by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). They have been identified as Fardeen Shaikh, resident of Ahmedabad, Mohd Faiq from Delhi, Zeeshan Ali from Noida, and Saifullah Qureshi from Modasa. Sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) are included in the FIR. Two of the accused have been sent to 14-day remand, while the others will be produced before the court on Thursday (July 24).

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday (July 23) evening, ATS DIG Sunil Joshi said, “Gujarat ATS Dy SP Harsh Upadhyay received information on 10th June that there are 5 Instagram accounts which are propagating the ideologies of Al Qaeda in the country. They were sharing their content on a religious basis, against democracy, against India. The input was shared with senior officials. A technical team was formed...Total 4 accused were identified. Of them, Fardeen Shaikh is r/o Ahmedabad, Mohd Faiq is r/o Delhi, Zeeshan Ali is r/o Noida and Saifullah Qureshi is r/o Modasa. All these 4 were monitored...It was found that not just their social media but also their physical movement is suspicious. A big team was formed...At the end of the operation, we were able to arrest all four suspects. We checked a lot of data on their phone.”

"They were disseminating a lot of content of Al Qaeda across India...A sword and Al Qaeda material were seized from Fardeen. They formed different groups on Instagram and promoted terrorist ideologies, they created content for the implementation of Shariat instead of democracy in India. Mohd Faiq was in contact with a few Pakistani Instagram accounts which provided him material for jihadi activities...We have invoked Sections 13, 18 , 38, 39 of UAPA and Sections 113, 152, 196 and 68 of BNS and registered FIR. Saifullah and Fardeen were produced before the Court today and they have been sent to 14-day remand. The remaining two accused will be produced before Court tomorrow...We have recovered documents on Operation Sindoor from Fardeen. Also, the posts they made at that time on Operation Sindoor were anti-Indian Govt, pro-Pakistani and instigating material on religious basis..."

They used an auto-delete app to erase all record of their communication trail, sources further added.

The four are being questioned. Gujarat ATS officials said that the accused have been linked with the terror outfit for a long time. They came in touch with al-Qaeda through social networking sites.

The four were on the ATS radar after they were found indulging in discussions on terror activities in the state. The Gujarat ATS said that they are studying the chats and the social media profiles and more details will be shared later.