Confessions of ISIS' Indian lone wolf Mohammad Masiuddin

Mohammad Masiuddin was a travelling terrorist till authorities arrested him two months ago. Better known as Musa, the 25-year-old from West Bengal's Birbhum district emerged as the face of trans-national, trans-organisational jihad, which is the newest threat to India's security even as the country fights Pakistansponsored terrorism on the western borders.

HAD TWO ISIS HANDLERS

The man in the National Investigation Agency's custody had two handlers-ISIS India head Shafi Armar who's now based in Syria, and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen member Abu Suleman, a Bangladeshi national and a wanted terrorist.

RADICALISED ONLINE

Musa had moved from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu where he worked at a shop in Tirupur. Like many ISIS recruits, he got radicalised online. A terror plan in mind, he recced his carefully chosen targets in J and K and West Bengal. But what surprised even the NIA was when he appeared in a YouTube video, raising the ISIS flag in downtown Srinagar.

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India has the world's third largest Muslim population at nearly 175 million but only a handful of them have joined the West Asian group. However, JMB, which is aspiring to set up a Bangladeshi Caliphate, has been active in India and has set up base in states like West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam.

Analysts say growing radicalisation in the neighbouring country has made it a hotbed for ISIS-inspired extremists who could spill over to India or weave alliances to carry out attacks.

ARMAR'S RISE THROUGH TERROR

Musa is the Indian face of ISIS JMB, an ominous symbol of new kind of terrorism. He travelled to Kokata and Srinagar to recce targets on instructions from Shafi Armar alias Yusuf Al Hindi who asked him to hit foreign nationals from the United States, UK, Canada and Israel.

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Armar started off as a member of the banned militant outfit Indian Mujahideen. In early 2009, he fled to Pakistan with a few of its top-ranking members - including Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal. He later left IM to join ISIS and is involved in recruiting and luring Indian youth.

Musa told NIA and Bangladeshi interrogators who visited Kolkata to question him this month that Abu Suleman was his handler for JMB. Even as a siege unfolded on July 1 at a Dhaka cafe that shook the world, India watched with bated breath as Rapid Action Bangladesh (RAB) forces dealt with one of the deadliest terror attacks there.

KEY LINKS FOUND

The key link to the strike emerging from India was not just Indian televangelist Zakir Naik who is under the home ministry scanner, but also the links to the JMB wing owing allegiance to ISIS. Soon after the attack, Suleman, a wanted man, was suspected to have slipped into West Bengal. He had earlier visited India twice, raising alarm bells in the security establishment.

When asked by Suleman to join JMB full-time, Musa simply said, "I have a family."

In India, Suleman attempted to set up a JMB module with the help of Musa, who was then working in Tirpur. Musa's journey to the JMB-ISIS module began in June 2015, when he liked a Facebook page of ISIS Bangladesh from the id Sabilillahkhan. He was instantly contacted by Suleman, also known as Jihadi John.

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NIA BREAKTHROUGH

Musa had Rs 60,000 in his bank account, money he had saved by selling a small property. He used his own money to travel to both Bengal and Kashmir. He took the long route to Srinagar, reaching till Jammu by train and then taking a bus. Musa then visited Kolkata where he reportedly bought a 13-inch machete. He then boarded the Visva Bharati passenger train from Howrah and left for his hometown in Birbhum. Acting on specific intelligence by the NIA, he was picked up by GRP and Burdwan police.