From Saudi Arabia to Hyderabad, journey of 'Army of the Caliph in South India'

When 30-year-old Hyderabad youth Ibrahim Yazdani returned to his city from Saudi Arabia, he was convinced that ISIS was fighting a justifiable war against President Bashar Al Assad's forces. As soon as Ibrahim landed in India, he roped in his younger brother Illyas in a group that was later known as "Jhund Ul Khalifa al Hind Fl Bilad" or Army of the Caliph in South India.

The group affiliated to the ISIS is now being considered by the NIA as the most dangerous of all modules that the probe agency busted in 2016. What did the Hyderabad module do for it to be perceived as such has now been elaborated in a chargesheet filed by the NIA last week.

Inception

While the NIA cites their socio-religious background as one of the factors behind their decision to join ISIS, the journey to see the world as believers and non-believers actually started from trading company in Saudi Arabia when Ibrahim Yazdani, considered to be one of the main conspirators behind the module, met a Jordanian national by the name of Suhayb Al Abudi.

Motivation

On his return to India, he tried multiple times to go to Syria through countries like Turkey or Greece, but was later directed by his handler to stay back in his country and do " Allah's work in India". And thus the module was formed. In its analysis of the group, the NIA states the accused are followers of the pure Salafi sect of lslam, also known as the Ahle Hadeeth sect which teaches a puritanical form of lslam. " Some of the accused are original Ahle Hadeeth followers whereas others got influenced and came in the fold of this sect. The followers of this sect believe that the Laws of the Shariah are the words of Allah and are immutable and, therefore, they want restoration of the Shariah Law. Some extreme radical followers of this sect preach a world view that the modern day democracy is against the tenets of lslam, since laws in a democracy are made by man. Such extreme radical ideologues of this sect see the world as divided between the believers and the non-believers. In their world view, even a fellow Muslim is an apostate, if he does not follow the pure Salafi interpretation of lslam".

Technology employed and the recruitment process

Social media remains the key factor for making the recruitment possible. In fact, in this particular case, NIA has listed the extent of how the module was well versed with applications to avoid getting exposed. Interestingly, the Baya'h (oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr Baghdadi) was written on a piece of paper, uploaded online and sent to an ISIS handler who in turn told the recruits to delete the same to avoid detection. Other than cloud-based instant messaging services like Telegram, the youth are claimed to have a good hold over other internet tools such as Tor browser, Amn AL Mujahid, Chat secure, Orbot, Orfox and Trillian applications.

Allegiance to ISIS chief Abu Bakr Baghdadi

The loyalty towards the ISIS chief is showcased in the chargsheet at many instances during which the recruits were asked to owe their allegiance. In one instance a recruit, who is now classified as a protected witness, was told by accused Ataullah Rehman that "if he died without signing a Bay'ah, he would die the death of an ignorant (Jahiliyyat ki Maut)".

From chemicals to pellet guns

In terms of collecting weapons, the Hyderabad module showed a lot of capability according to NIA. From travelling to Ajmer in Rajasthan to Nanded in Maharashtra. From acquiring weapons and chemicals to collecting funds, NIA has said the group was effective to acquire arms and ammunition to allegedly conduct large scale terror acts. Among the material allegedly recovered from the accused are chemicals such as Urea, 2-Chloro 9- Methyl Acridine, Methylene Chloride, Acetone, Hydrogen peroxide, Nitric Acid used to prepare explosives. Other recoveries include three knives, 17 live rounds, face masks, air guns and pellet guns which came to be known for their usage to quell anti-India protests in Kashmir.