Arrested Activist Tried to Recruit Terrorists to Form Local Militant Group

Hyderabad: Police on Monday said that Saida Begum alias Ayesha, a city-based domestic help who was arrested on March 24 from a hideout in Chanchalguda, was allegedly heading a women’s jihadi group Khawateen and helped recruit and train people for terrorist organisations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda from Hyderabad and other states. She is presently lodged in Rajahmundry prison.

The case has been registered against Saida and 12 others, including Sohail Baig of Hyderabad, Shadman Dilkash of Bihar, Lucky Ahmed of Delhi, Abdul Salam of Karnataka, Shah Raq Khan, Sheikh Faizar of Maharashtra and foreign-based handler Al Hakeem Shukoor, police said. They have been booked under the UAPA, NSA and other provisions. On Monday, the police took Saida and the other accused into seven-day police custody for further investigation.

Saida was arrested by the Vijayawada Counter Intelligence Cell on technical evidence. During further investigation by the AP-CI cell and the arrest of 12 suspects from six states, it was discovered that the jihidi activists, who were reportedly headed by Saida, were supposed to get funds from abroad to procure sniper rifles, guns, ammonium nitrate, IEDs, among others to target non-Muslims and spread terror in India.

Police said Saida told investigators that she and two others had been assigned to train and recruit people, especially women, in jihadi ideology. Investigators alleged she had, over the past 12 months, recruited 42 Muslim youths from different states on the instructions of an overseas handler identified as Al-Hakim alias Shukur.

Saida, also with her Jihadi name Ayesha, reportedly brainwashed terrorists Sohail Baig Sharif and Danish to join banned terrorist organisations. The agency submitted in the remand report that the arrested Jihadi activists, apart from ISIS, are also affiliated with AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent), a banned terrorist organisation.

The investigation found that Saida operated from two houses in Chanchalguda and Mallapally and played a central role in radicalising youths in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. She allegedly used social media platforms to spread extremist content and to bring recruits into a network described by investigators as linked to AQIS, a banned terrorist organisation.

At the time of her arrest, counter-intelligence teams seized a laptop and social media accounts from her possession. Police said the material showed plans by the group to build a nationwide secret jihadi outfit 42 youths from various states, including Telangana, AP, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, and indicated that members were expecting funds from abroad to procure sniper rifles, guns, ammonium nitrate and improvised explosive devices to target non-Muslims.

Police also alleged that, on the instructions of Al-Hakim, Saida and others joined a group called “BENX COM”, which investigators said included radicalised members in India and abroad. She is also accused of brainwashing Sohail Baig Sharif and Danish to join banned terrorist organisations.