4 Al-Qaeda Terrorists Arrested In Gujarat, They Used Auto-Delete App

Four terrorists linked to al-Qaeda involved in running a fake currency racket and spreading the global terror group's ideology have been arrested by the Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS). One of them was arrested from another state, the ATS said.

The terror accused - Mohd Faiq, Mohd Fardeen, Sefullah Kureshi, and Zeeshan Ali - used social media platforms and suspicious apps to spread al-Qaeda's ideology, sources said.

They used an auto-delete apps to clean any trace of their communication footprint, sources said.

The four are being interrogated, they said.

Gujarat ATS officers said the accused have been associated with the terror group for a long time. They came in touch with al-Qaeda on social media platforms.

The four came in the ATS radar after they were detected discussing terror activities in the state.

The Gujarat ATS said they are analysing the chats and social media handles.

"These four individuals came into contact with each other through social media. We learnt that Delhi-resident Faiq was in contact with a Pakistani Instagram user and discussed ways to spread jihadi activities in India," said Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Gujarat ATS, Sunil Joshi.

During a raid at Shaikh's house in Fatehwadi area of Ahmedabad city, the Anti-Terrorist Squad found a sword and AQIS literature promoting jihad against India for its 'Operation Sindoor' carried out against Pakistan in May, he said.

"The main agenda of these four accused was to attract youth towards AQIS ideology and incite them to uproot democracy in India to establish sharia through violence. We are investigating if they received any funds and what their exact plans were," Mr Joshi said.

Their Instagram posts contained AQIS literature, calls for establishing sharia and other such radical statements which had the capacity to create communal hatred, said the Indian Police Service officer.

The accused had also posted a video of Asim Umar, an Indian who had joined AQIS and later on killed in Afghanistan in 2019, he informed.

"The conduct of the accused amounts to a premeditated criminal conspiracy to incite terrorism, promote armed insurrection, and undermine the sovereignty and democratic fabric of India" the DIG said.

al-Qaeda grew out of Makhtab al-Khidamat, created by Osama bin Laden's mentor, Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, as an organization to fund terrorists in Afghanistan. al-Qaeda, its affiliates, and those inspired by the group have been involved in planning and executing attacks in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

From its creation until 1991, al-Qaeda was located in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's Peshawar. From 1996 until late 2001, it was operated by Bin Laden and terror associates from Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban.