SIMI-linked doctor behind Andhra youths’ ‘recruitment’ for IS

The name of this alleged recruiter had featured earlier in investigations into activities of the banned SIMI in Karnataka in 2007 but he had not been booked at the time. Officials said the medical doctor is in touch with Indian-origin persons such as cleric Sultan Armar, who is linked to the Indian Mujahideen and al-Qaeda.

The details about the doctor have reportedly been revealed by the four Hyderabadi youths intercepted in September in West Bengal’s Malda. Sources said monitoring of the online communications of the recruiter showed he was in touch with youths in different parts of the country, identified via their activities on jihadi sites and social media.

The doctor is alleged to have put the four Hyderabadi youths intercepted in September in touch with Armar, a cleric from Bhatkal in Karnataka who also goes by the name ‘Maulana Abdul Rehman al Nadwi al Hindi’ on the Net. Before the Hyderabad police caught up with the youths, Armar had allegedly spoken to them over Skype and promised to arrange their travel to Afghanistan.

The doctor, sources said, also provided the youths money to enable them to procure visas to travel via Turkey to Syria to join the IS.

The former Google employee, a software engineer also allegedly tapped by the doctor, caught the attention of investigators because of his online activities and for obtaining a work visa recently to travel to Saudi Arabia.

Two SIMI-linked men from Maharashtra arrested by the Hyderabad police recently were allegedly also recruited by Armar to join al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. According to sources, one of them had obtained a visa for travel to Iran.

Looking at measures to prevent youths from getting attracted to the IS and other jihadi outfits abroad, security agencies in India have also been looking at other data apart from Net monitoring.

Some agencies in Karnataka have identified young travellers to the Gulf region or West Asia in recent months who have failed to return after the lapse of their visas. “This has given us a shortlist of a handful of candidates who fit the profile of those who may join the IS, but there is no confirmation. Their families say they have gone in search of jobs, so they could be illegal immigrants abroad as well,” a senior police official said.