On June 9, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police bust a major Islamic terror module in the state. The ATS arrested four terrorists associated with Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Porbandar.
The arrested terrorists have been identified as Ubaid Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shal, Mohammad Hajim Shah, and Sumer Banu. Ubaid, Hanan, and Mohammad Hajim Shah hail from Kashmir, while Sumera Banu is from Surat.
Another person from Kashmir, Zubair Mohammad, was also scheduled to travel with the four accused to Afghanistan. Police has launched a manhunt to nab Zubair Mohammad, who is currently absconding.
The three Kashmir residents were about to escape by sea route to join the Islamic State of Khorasan Province with the help of their handler Abu Hamza.
For several days, the ATS team continuously conducted raids to arrest people associated with the terrorist organisation.
All the arrested terrorists are members of the terrorist organisation ISKP active in Afghanistan and they were in touch with each other for a year.
According to the reports, all these terrorists were trying to escape from Porbandar to Afghanistan. DIG Deepan Bhadran and SP Sunil Joshi led this operation. They were camping in Porbandar along with local police officials since yesterday.
In a press conference, DGP Gujarat Vikas Sahay said, “ISKP that is Islamic State of Khorasan Province is a banned terrorist organisation. The ATS officers received the information that three terrorists related to this organisation are about to do a ‘Hijrat’ (travel) from India via Gujarat. The information was analysed and evaluated. We found that it was true information. Based on that information, the ATS officers arrested these terrorists from Porbandar on the 9th of June 2023 in the morning.”
A woman associated with the terrorist organization ISKP named Sumera – was caught by the ATS with the help of crime branch police.
Sumera was detained from the Lalgate area of the city and taken to Porbandar. Sumera came to Surat from Kanyakumari to meet her father. The investigation also revealed that one of her family members is a government servant. Four mobile phones were recovered from her.
During the investigation, the ATS discovered personal identification documents, digital communication devices such as mobile phones and tablets, as well as a sharp knife.
In the presence of independent witnesses, ATS accessed the suspects’ cloud storage account, where they found photographs of the individuals holding ISKP banners and flags.
Videos showing four Kashmiri youths taking an oath of loyalty to the Amir Ul Mominin (Commander of the Faithful or leader), audio clips of their pledge of loyalty (Bayah), and files indicating their intention to seek refuge in Khorasan were also found.
Upon further questioning, the youths revealed that their handler, Abu Hamza, instructed them to travel to Porbandar.
They were instructed to find employment as labourers on fishing boats there and later navigate to specific GPS coordinates in the sea. From that location, they were to be transported to Iran on a ship. Once in Iran, they were to obtain fake passports and travel to Khorasan via Herat.
The ultimate objective was to participate in a terrorist attack in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on behalf of ISKP and attain martyrdom. Subsequently, their handler would have used pre-recorded statements, photos, videos, and documents to declare them martyrs.
Four teams of ATS were continuously active in the operation and were raiding near the coastal towns. Two teams were deployed in the Porbandar area, while the others were conducting raids in the Dwarka area. Apart from this, the ATS team also conducted searches at different places in Bharuch and Surat in Gujarat and also in Delhi.
Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi congratulated the Gujarat Police for the success of the operation and said the crackdown on such terror modules found operating in the state will continue.
“The operation conducted was in line with the Modi government’s zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism. Such terror modules were detected and busted earlier. Such operations to crackdown on terror modules in the state will continue,” he said.
Further investigation is underway.
