UP ATS arrests 19-year

The accused, his handlers were propagating violent jihad and idea of Sharia-based caliphate, the agency says.

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested a second-year BDS (bachelor of dental surgery) student for allegedly having links with a module of the banned terrorist organisation ISIS.

The accused, Haris Ali, 19, a resident of Saharanpur district, was arrested from Moradabad on Sunday, officials said.

According to police, they had been receiving intelligence inputs for some time that some persons in UP and other parts of the country were actively linked to a module of the terrorist organisation.

These handlers, some based in Pakistan, were allegedly trying to radicalise people by propagating ISIS’s ideology of violent jihad and promoting the idea of establishing a Sharia-based caliphate across the world, including in India, officials claimed.

Haris Ali and his associates had created groups on social media platforms such as Instagram and encrypted messaging applications such as Session and Discord to further their activities, the ATS claimed.

Through these platforms, they were attempting to recruit more people, expand ISIS’s network in India, and circulate the organisation’s propaganda material, ideological content and operational instructions, they said.

Also, the suspects were allegedly conspiring to carry out major terrorist activities in India under the banner of ISIS, the ATS said.

Taking cognisance of the intelligence inputs, the ATS claimed to have conducted extensive physical and electronic surveillance to verify the information.

Then it registered a case in Lucknow and launched a detailed investigation, the agency said.

Ali was working to overthrow the “democratically elected government” and “establishing a Sharia-based caliphate system”, the agency said.

Using pseudonyms and VPN services to conceal his identity on social media platforms and apps, Ali attempted to recruit and radicalise like-minded individuals into the terror outfit, it further said.

To expand and further strengthen ISIS’s activities in India, Haris had created a group named “Al Ittihad Media Foundation,” police said.

He regularly followed the organisation’s media and news channels, including Al-Naba, as well as its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the officials added.

During questioning, Haris allegedly told police that he did not believe in democratic system and instead supported Sharia law and the establishment of a caliphate.

Police are now trying to trace other members of the network, as some of Haris’s associates are believed to have gone underground following his arrest.

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