A
total of eight members have been arrested for their associations with the Pakistan-based terror module Jeish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in the state of Gujarat. The arrests have been made by the Gujarat ATS on Thursday, July 2, in various districts of Gujarat and one district of Madhya Pradesh.
According to the police, the cell was involved in making a terror module in Gujarat under the auspices of JeM.
This is a major victory for the Indian intelligence agencies against the repeated efforts by Pakistani terror modules to extend their reach in India.
On receiving inputs based on intelligence reports, searches were conducted by the Gujarat ATS in various districts such as Banaskantha, Patan, and Navsari in Gujarat and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. As many as eight people were arrested through these searches. According to officials, the eight individuals arrested were all active members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is a banned terror group and is behind some attacks in India in the past.
As quoted by an ATS official, the arrested persons were "actively working on behalf of Jaish-e-Mohammed to form a terror network in Gujarat." The FIR against them has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the recently revised criminal law in India.
The eight individuals who were arrested include:
- Ahmed Abdullah Gajiwala, known by his nom de guerre of Abu Ubaida, 19 years old, hailing from Bhagal, Palanpur city, Banaskantha district
- Ibrahim Mohammad Husen Ghagha, known by his nom de guerre of Abu Hamza, 30 years old, also hailing from Bhagal
- Mudassir Abdullah Ghaziwala, known by his nom de guerre of Abu Aya, 22 years old, also hailing from Bhagal
- Zakariya Durani Mohammad Ammar Ghagha, known by the nicknames of Ibn Ammar or Zakariya Palanpuri, 21 years old, associated with Jamia Abul Hasan Madrasa in Khadiyasana, Siddhpur, Patan district
- Mufti Faujan Ismail Dauwa, known by his nom de guerre of Mufti Sahab, 40 years old and from the same madrasa
- Mohammad Amin Shera, known by his nom de guerre of Amin Palanpuri, 21 years old, from the same institution
- Mohammad Abdul Rahman Savdi, known by his nicknames of Mohammad Palanpuri or Abu Unisa, 22 years old, associated with Jamia Rahmaniya Khambhiya in Ambheta.
Photo: @GujaratPolice
Some of these suspects appear to have connections with each other by virtue of their familial backgrounds and also belong to towns located in northern Gujarat. In addition to this, quite a few of them appear to be associated with madrasas based in the area.
It is pertinent to note here that in this connection, there is an investigation about the part that was played by the said institutions, whether intentionally or unintentionally, in the process of radicalization.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is one of the notorious terrorist organizations active in Pakistan. The organization has been involved in several attacks on Indian soil in the past against security installations. It has been trying for a very long time to set up bases in India by recruiting individuals from within and setting up sleeper cells in the country.
What makes this incident relevant is the fact that the group has managed to get itself involved even in those regions where it had no presence in the first place, like Gujarat. Furthermore, involvement of youths of their late teens and early twenties clearly indicates how undetected the process of radicalization can be.
The above arrest is just one among many in a wider trend of crackdowns on terrorism that have taken place in India recently.
On the same day that the Gujarat arrests came to light, the Delhi Police broke up another terrorist cell run by the ISI, which resulted in the arrest of four young men who reportedly received guidance from their ISI handlers in Pakistan via social media platforms. The police seized two foreign-made pistols, nine live cartridges, and five mobile phones in the process.
In a separate development, the state Anti-Terrorism Squad in Madhya Pradesh had made an earlier arrest of a person called Mohammad Faraz at a local mosque in Bhopal, back in mid-June, in connection with plans for a "lone-wolf" type of terrorist attack. According to the investigation, Faraz was in contact with his overseas handler in Pakistan using messaging services such as Telegram and WhatsApp and was reportedly on the consideration list for target killing.
From the above cases, it is clear that security agencies in several countries are on red alert, striving to monitor and break the terror modules from carrying out their attacks.
All eight individuals who have been apprehended in the Gujarat case have been arrested and charged with serious offenses in the provisions of the UAPA and BNS. These two acts provide heavy penalties for the cases of terrorism and any form of organized crime.
Further investigations by the ATS will focus on:
- Determining the extent of the operations by the terror module
- If the group was armed with weapons or explosives
- The identity of their handlers and their presence in Pakistan
- If the group has any connection with other terror modules in India
The operation is regarded as highly successful in averting a very serious threat to the internal security of the nation. However, it is important to note that the investigations are still ongoing.
