- Maulvi Irfan Ahmed recruited white collar professionals for JeM terror module in India
- He used conversations, social media, and mosque attendance to identify potential recruits
- Irfan connected with Pakistani JeM handler Hanzulla for weapons and guidance
Maulvi Irfan Ahmed, the arrested terror suspect from Jammu and Kashmir who put the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) plan to create a white collar terror module into motion, kept an eye on ‘potential candidates' who he could radicalise and did not waste a moment to recruit them at the first sign of a positive response, sources said.
Irfan Ahmed's main task was to radicalise educated young professionals and connect them with the terror group JeM.
Before he began assembling the doctors and forming the 'invisible' white collar terror module in Haryana's Faridabad, he met Muzamil Shakeel and ‘worked' on him to prepare him for ‘recruitment'.
Broadly, Irfan Ahmed followed three strategies to find people who he could radicalise and use to launch terror strikes.
Making Conversations, Building Bonds
Irfan Ahmed talked a lot, sources said. While it would seem like he was just a regular person, he was actually calculating whether the people whom he was talking to would be interested in having discussions on Islam, sources said.
If the ‘target' individual showed receptiveness, Irfan Ahmed would attempt to build a relationship, as he did with Muzamil Shakeel, the first doctor who he met at a hospital and recruited.
The doctor-patient relationship eventually changed into a terror module.
Scanning Social Media Posts
Irfan Ahmed scanned social media profiles to identify people who have certain views that he felt may be open to joining him. If he saw someone as holding separatist or extremist ideologies, Irfan Ahmed would share religious material and content, similar to his interactions. He used this method on Adeel Ahmad Rather, the suspect whose arrest by the Jammu and Kashmir Police exposed the entire module.
Checking Attendance At Mosque
The maulvi reportedly identified potential recruits by observing individuals who frequently visited mosques or performed prayers. He would then initiate interactions, eventually drawing them into a terror module. He used this approach on Jasir Bilal Wani Alias Danish after Adeel Ahmad Rather suggested his name.
Pakistan Connection
Digital footprints showed that Irfan Ahmed has links with JeM handler Hanzulla in Pakistan. Another JeM terrorist who had infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir gave him two AK series assault rifles.
One of the guns was recovered from Muzamil Shakeel's locker in the hospital where he worked, and the other gun was found inside the car of arrested terror suspect Shaheen Saeed.
Investigators said that Irfan Ahmed, during his interrogation, pointed out he asked his Pakistani handler to reveal his identity in August 2023
In August 2023, Irfan asked his Pakistani handler to reveal his true identity. However, the handler cut all contacts and kept in touch only on the Telegram app.
All the key suspects including the suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi had clearly defined roles, sources told NDTV. While their tasks are widely different, from logistics to bomb-making, all of them seem to know their group objective - to launch terror strikes, sources said.
The terror attack near the Red Fort in Delhi killed 13.
With inputs from Pradeep Dutta
