Gujarat ATS says ISKP module busted, 4 Kashmiri youth held

The ISKP is a transnational outfit, and a United Nations-designated terrorist organisation with operational ties with local groups, according to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA). It is said to have a strong presence in eastern Afghanistan.

Devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and sharp-edged weapons such as knives apart from personal identity documents have been recovered from the accused.

“By accessing the cloud storage account of these individuals in the presence of independent witnesses, the police team was able to obtain several images of these individuals with the ISKP banners and flags in the background, videos of the four Kashmiri youth giving Baya’h (oath of allegiance) to the Amirulmomineen (commander of the faithful or leader), audio clips of their baya’h as well as document files mentioning that they have committed Hijrat to Khorasan”, a police statement said.

“They were to partake in attacks on behalf of the ISKP in its terror campaign in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and attain martyrdom whereupon their prerecorded statements, images, videos, and documents would be used by the handler and ISKP to declare their successful attainment of martyrdom,” the statement added.

Their handler who radicalised them has been identified as Abu Hamza. The four persons have been identified as Ubaid Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shawl, and Mohammad Hajim Shah — all residents of Srinagar — and Sumerabanu Mohammad Hanif Malek from Surat, police said.

The Gujarat ATS team mounted a close watch at the railway station at Porbandar and detained three of the four accused on Friday morning. Upon interrogation, it was revealed the accused were on set to reach the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan via Iran”.

They also revealed they had been radicalised by Abu Hamza and they had joined the ISKP, the police chief told reporters. During a detailed interrogation, it was confirmed that two other individuals — Zubair Ahmed Munshi from Srinagar, and Sumerabanu Mohammad Hanif Malek — are also members of the ISKP module, and had been associated with the detainees, as per officials.
Based on this information, a team of Gujarat ATS and Surat Crime Branch raided the residence of Sumerabanu Malek and conducted a search in the presence of independent witnesses. Several radical publications of the ISKP such as “Voice of Khorasan” among others were recovered, officials said.

As Sumerabanu was questioned, according to police, it was revealed she had been in touch with the handler and had also been in close connection with Zubair Ahmed Munshi.

Sources said she is a resident of Surat and a native of Hansot in Bharuch district. She is a class 12 dropout, was married to a man from Tamil Nadu, and has two kids. “After regular conflicts with her husband, she came down to Surat with her two kids and started staying at her parent’s place. She divorced him later, and was not having a job. Her father is a retired government employee”, police said.

The investigating officials also found purported material at her residence where she pledged allegiance to the ISKP.

The accused were purportedly instructed by Abu Hamza to reach Porbandar from where they were to take employment in a fishing boat as labourers. Using this boat, they were to reach the predetermined GPS coordinate given to them from where they would have been taken to Iran. They were given fake passports to reach Khorasan via Herat, as per the details revealed.

Based on the evidence collected by means of oral statements and material facts, an offence has been registered under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, against Ubaid, Hanan, Mohammad, Zubair, and Sumerabanu. Efforts are on to locate Zubair Ahmed Munshi, a resident of Amira Kadal in Srinagar. Sahay said they are working with the local police stations to capture the suspect.