The investigation of an ISIS module busted in October 2023 has now revealed that a woman from the Maldives served as the handler for the arrested terrorist, Mohammed Shahnawaz. Shahnawaz, a former mining engineer turned ISIS operative, had contact with the woman through a Telegram channel named “Caged Pearl.” The woman purportedly worked to raise funds for women in the al-Hawl camp, a well-known ISIS refugee detention centre near the Iraq-Syria border.
Suspected ISIS terrorist Shahnawaz alias Shafi Uzzama, wanted by NIA, was arrested by Delhi Police on 2 October 2023.
According to a report by the Times of India, Shahnawaz transferred Rs 1.4 lakh (proceeds of crime) using Google Pay through a teacher in Kerala. The investigation revealed that the woman had fled to Syria in 2015 and provided Shahnawaz with a contact (Maldives mobile number) of her brother, who then guided Shahnawaz on sending money to the al-Hawl camp.
Mystery woman from #Maldives on anti terror unit’s radar in ISIS bust in New Delhi. Was facilitating donations to al Hawl IS camp at the Iraq-Syria border through a Kerala teacher. pic.twitter.com/zVigYhLOBm
— Raj Shekhar Jha (@rajshekharx) January 10, 2024
The woman confirmed receipt of this money to Shahnawaz after two weeks. She also received Rs 40,000 in the next transaction. A police document read, “Following the transfers, Shahnawaz was put in touch with three IS-linked entities, viz., Qasim Khurasani (a Kashmiri), Huzaifa and Kashif (both Afghan nationals) on Telegram. After some time, Huzaifa and Qasim Khurasani’s IDs became non-functional but he continued remaining in contact with Kashif, discussing the expansion of IS in India.”
ISIS terrorist Mohammed Shahnawaz
On 2nd October 2023, Shahnawaz alias Shafi Uzzama was arrested by the Delhi Police special cell from a hideout in Jaitpur, South Delhi. In the course of the operation, they also detained two other individuals who were wanted by the NIA. The security forces recovered bomb-making literature which was sent from Pakistan-based handlers, and other incriminating materials from Shahnawaz’s hideouts.
Shahnawaz is an engineer by profession and was wanted in the ISIS Pune module case. According to media reports, he is originally from Delhi but had moved to Pune. Two of his associates were arrested in a raid in July 2023, while he managed to flee, returned to Delhi, and lived in a hideout. The module planned to carry out terror attacks across India on instructions from foreign-based handlers. Now, the Maldives connection of this terrorist has been revealed in the investigations.
Maldives is an ISIS hub
This Maldives connection of the ISIS terrorists has surfaced days after 3 ministers of Maldives were sacked for anti-India and anti-Hindu slurs and remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Maldives, a Sunni Muslim majority country spread over 1,200 islands, is located in the southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometres from the mainland of the Asian continent. However, Maldives is as notorious for terrorism as it is famous for its beauty.
The world’s most barbaric Islamic terrorist organisations Islamic State or ISIS and Al Qaeda have taken root in the Maldives. Many terrorists in this Sharia-run country are on the radar of the world. There was a time when the rule here was in the hands of Buddhist Kshatriyas. Over time, the number of Muslims increased here and today more than 98 percent of the population is fanatical Sunni Muslims. Now most of the Buddhist stupas in this Muslim-majority country have either been broken or are in a dilapidated condition.
The US Department of the Treasury has said in a report that from 2014 to early 2018, more than 250 Maldivians went to Syria to join ISIS. This is the highest in the world in proportion to population. Many of these terrorists were killed, while most of the Maldivian women are in camps in Syria.
