Hyderabad: Local agents are the key players in building the nebulous structure of sleeper cells in Hyderabad. They help foreign infiltrators blend into society easily by arranging shelters and the documents required.
With the help of locals agents, the terror operatives become ‘faceless’ by keeping a low profile and living in the areas of city, where hundreds of migrant workers are settled. The agents also place them in petty jobs in parts of the city.
Intelligence officials say that the local agents become part of sleeper cells either due to their ideological motivation or because of financial gains. They always ensure the information and identity of the infiltrators is hidden well, even from their closest kin.
Mohd Masood Ali Khan, the photocopy centre owner from Chanchalguda managed to secure passports for HuJI operatives despite, the enforcement agencies mounting extra vigil after the Dilsukhnagar blast and the recent Nalgonda shootout.
He also got them voter ID cards and Aadhaar cards for the foreign nationals without raising any suspicion.
While the city police has introduced new special measures to check corruption during passport verification, Masood Ali Khan could procure these documents for at least 15 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
Special Branch and Intelligence officials themselves are baffled as how he could it off. “We have started a departmental inquiry on how he could manage the police inquiry for so many foreign nationals in a short time,” said Mr Y. Nagi Reddy, additional commissioner of police, Special Branch.
The local agents are also capable of avoiding police vigilance by leading a very normal life. Both Masood Ali Khan and the second agent Sohail Parvez Khan from Balapur had never come under police scrutiny before.
“They lead very normal lives, but can be very influential in their locality. They use all their influence to blend an infiltrator into society without making much noise,” a counter intelligence official said.
The two locals agents were instrumental in helping terror operative Mohammed Nasir find shelter in migrant-populated Jalpally, and a job in a private Unani hospital.
The local police never knew of his presence despite regular ‘cordon and search’ operations in the area.
