Al-Qaeda terror suspect used Dark Web for talking about terrorism and Facebook to radicalise people

Al Qaeda sleeper cell operative Inamul-Haq who was smoked out of his hideout in Bareilly three days ago would identify himself as the brother of Zakir Musa, founder of Indian wing of Al-Qaeda, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, while radicalizing youths on social media, said investigators.

Haq’s decoded messages and social media chats show he often invoked Al Qaeda and its home-bred commander Musa, who was shot by security forces in south Kashmir in 2019. Haq is currently in 10-day custody of UP Anti-Terrorist Squad.

Investigators are now verifying credentials of those ensnared by Haq with radical ideology, said an officer of UP Anti-Terrorist Squad that acted on intelligence inputs to nab Haq on June 18.

He had interacted with at least 50 other men with jihadist inclination and they are being verified and tracked down. He created five Facebook profiles, but managed to delete four before ATS raided his hideout.

Haq wanted to form his own terror outfit and was trying to radicalize and recruit youths in the 16-25 age-group while interacting with close aides via Telegram X app to skirt surveillance, said the officer. This app has an inbuilt property of destroying messages by setting a time limit. Investigators also revealed that Haq communicated on ‘Dark Web’ with terrorists and got easy access to Al-Qaeda literature.

Haq’s mobile phone unearthed literature of various terror organisations, which are not accessible on search engines. Another ATS officer said, excerpts from the banned Al-Qaeda magazine ‘Inspire’ was also recovered from his mobile, which details covert techniques to derail a train, said an officer.

ATS also said, Haq had vandalised an idol inside a temple in Haldwani in 2014 and was sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

Source: India Times