Afsha Jabeen says 9 ISIS members in India

Hyderabad: Afsha Jabeen, who had allegedly tried to recruit youths for the terror outfit Islamic State, has told intelligence officials that there are nine active members of IS in India. They are currently under close observation.

However, an intelligence official from TS said that the situation was not very serious. “Though she said there are active members, it’s not so serious on ground level,” the officer said.

Thirty-eight-year-old Jabeen has said that out of these nine active members, two are from Mumbai while the others are from Hyderabad, Bengaluru and J&K.

Jabeen has also disclosed names of a few potential IS recruitment organisations that are operational in India.

She was deported last month by UAE authorities for pro-IS activities and was arrested by the Cyberabad police. Hailing from Toli Chowki area of Hyderabad and living in Dubai, Jabeen had been portraying herself as a British national as she lured youths for the IS through social media.

While surfing the Internet for Islamic religious literature, she had come in contact with Salman Mohiuddin, a chemical engineer who had returned to Hyderabad from the US, and the two allegedly floated several online groups to indoctrinate and recruit youths to join the IS.

In her confession, Jabeen had earlier said that she, along with Mohiuddin, had created multiple Facebook groups to propagate Islamic State ideology.

Mohiuddin, also from Hyderabad, was arrested in January this year at the airport when he was preparing to board a flight to Dubai, on way to Syria via Turkey.

Jabeen had also confessed that that she had created an FB group “Islam Vs Christianity Friendly Discussion” to propagate Islam. To manage the account, she had assumed the pseudonym “Nicky Joseph”.