On Monday, July 10, Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) made some startling revelations about Mohammad Tariq, whom they arrested on Thursday, July 6 for spreading the ideology of ISIS on multiple social media platforms. The UP ATS revealed that Mohammad Tariq was in touch with the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) terrorist Sumera Bano, whom the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police arrested along with three others from Porbandar last month.
According to reports, Sumera used to provide Mohammad Tariq training to execute ‘love jihad’, in which Hindu girls are trapped by Muslim men who later either forcefully convert them to Islam, push them into terrorism, groom them or murder and rape them.
ATS revealed that the information regarding Tariq was obtained from Sumera’s phone when she was apprehended in Porbandar last month. Immediately after that Gujarat ATS alerted UP ATS and Tariq was arrested on July 6, 2023.
During interrogation, Mohammad Tariq accepted that he was propagating ISIS ideology and alluring youths on social media to associate with him. He further said that he had always wanted to be a mujahid (people who engage in jihad) and that Baghdadi’s weapons had always fascinated him.
Further, when the ATS team investigated Mohammad Tariq’s mobile phone they discovered numerous images of ISIS terrorists carrying different types of arms and weapons. The police also recovered several incriminating materials including ISIS flags and literature and transcripts written in Arabic from his possession.
Also revealing details of the modus operandi adopted by Mohammad Tariq, the ATS officials said that he usually lured and trapped his targets through online games. Tariq connected with the boys of his locality and across the country by playing online games with them.
The ATS said that Mohammad Tariq was an introvert and mostly remained indoors and once in a while went to the supermarket when he had to buy essentials like milk and biscuits. He lived with his father, who was a government school teacher, his mother his brother, who was a tailor by profession and his elder sister.
In fact, a report by Danik Bhaskar quoted ATS officials as saying that when Tariq was detained, some people living in his neighbourhood could not believe that he was radicalised and was spreading the ideology of ISIS through social media platforms.
Mohammad Tariq was in touch with ISKP terrorist Sumera Bano on Telegram
The ATS during the probe also revealed that Mohammad Tariq was a member of a Telegram group, where he took instructions from Sumera on how to connect with vulnerable youths and trap them. The admin of this group is on Haj currently, but the ATS is tracking down all the youths of the locality who were in touch with Mohammad Tariq through various social media platforms and online games.
According to the ATS, Tariq is from the Khoonipur neighbourhood in Gorakhpur, which was one of the areas affected by the anti-CAA riots in 2019. The ATS asserted that a significant amount of youths from Tariq’s neighbourhood had participated in the anti-CAA violence that erupted in 2019.
Gujarat ATS busts terror module in Porbandar, arrests 4 terrorists of Islamic State of Khorasan Province
It is pertinent to note that on June 6, busting a secret module of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Porbandar, the ATS arrested four terrorists associated with the terror outfit. Sumera Bano, Tariq’s mentor was one of the 4 terrorists that were nabbed then. The others were identified as Ubaid Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shal and Mohammad Hajim Shah. Ubaid, Hanan, and Mohammad Hajim Shah hail from Kashmir, while Sumera Banu is from Surat.
The three Kashmir residents were about to escape by sea route to join the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) with the help of their handler Abu Hamza. Materials related to the ISKP and sharp weapons such as knives were also recovered from them. 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.
After Gujarat ATS arrested Sumera Bano, they found Mohammad Tariq’s details from her mobile phone. The Gujarat ATS passed the information to the UP ATS who then conducted searches and finally nabbed Mohammad Tariq on July 10.
Sumera wanted to travel to Iran to receive terrorist training via the sea. She was in touch with Abu Hamza, the Iranian-born ISIS handler. When Sumera got back from there, she started training Muslim youths in India to join ISIS and execute ‘love jihad’, a well-organised and systematic crime that has been spreading its tentacles all across the country with financial and logistical support from various Islamic organisations.
