Bhatkal: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a latest operation against suspected members of terrorist organization ISIS. In this connection, after Kashmir, Bangalore, Ullal Mangalore, the agency raided places in Bhatkal on Friday and arrested a man named Jufri Jawhar Damudi.
Interrogation out of Bhatkal: The NIA team who arrived from Bangalore, along with local police officers, conducted a day-long operation on Friday and raided three places and detained three people. The trio were taken for interrogation outside Bhatkal in the neighbouring regions Manki and Honnavar, after which Jawhar was arrested, while his brother and another person were released.
What is this case?: An official press release issued by the NIA said that the arrest of Jawhar was in a case related to a module active in support of ISIS "ISIS - Voice of Hind" No. RC-14/2021/NIA/DLI.
According to the press statement issued by NIA, Jawhar was arrested in connection with a case registered at NIA PS New Delhi on 29 June 2021. The case pertains to the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS to radicalize and recruit impressionable Muslim youth in India to wage violent Jihad against the Indian state, the press release stated.
Kashmir link in the case: The NIA says ISIS operatives in India have set up a network with fake identities to spread ISIS propaganda to attract young people to join ISIS. Earlier on July 11, the NIA raided Kashmir and arrested Umar Nisar, Tanveer Ahmed Bhat and Rameez Ahmed Lone from Achhabal in Anantnag in connection with the case.
The NIA has alleged Jawhar has a cyber-entity ‘Abu Hazir Al Badri’ “a key operative of ISIS who is involved in the translation of Voice of Hind to South Indian languages and its further dissemination”.
What are the allegations against Jawhar?: Regarding Jawhar, the NIA has said that he was in touch with the top leadership of ISIS operating outside Pakistan and Afghanistan, Who provided him with propaganda material and he followed their instructions to spread it. He created a number of fake IDs on chat platforms that encrypt the message and was a member of many ISIS propaganda channels.
According to the press release, the NIA seized a number of digital devices such as mobile phones, hard discs and SD cards during the search.
Police vigilance in Bhatkal: Before the raid in Bhatkal, the news of the operation by the NIA team investigating in Mangalore a day before was circulating in the media circles in Bhatkal. Police were deployed at every corner of the town and senior local police officers and staff remained fully active during the raid and police protection was also provided to the NIA team at the raid sites.
Jawhar taken to Delhi: After completing the interrogation, Jawhar was produced in Honnavar court on Saturday afternoon and with the permission of the court, the NIA team took him to Delhi. It remains to be seen when will he be presented in court and what will happen next
Media defames Ameen Zuhaib: The NIA also raided the house of Ameen Zuhaib and took him into custody. After interrogation from noon to evening, Ameen Zuhaib was released at night. But before that, news of the detention of Ameen Zuhaib was spread in the English media from Delhi and in some circles of Kannada media in the state, while some media outlets tried to tarnish his image by publishing his photo.