IS handler Farooque lured youth with promise of sex slaves, virgins: report
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) between July and August busted a Parbhani-based Islamic State module and arrested four youths from Parbhani and Hingoli — Mohd Raisuddin Mohd Siddique, Iqbal Ahmed Kabir Ahmed, Nasir Chaus and Shaheed Khan.
According to reports, ATS claims the module was planning to carry out an attack on the Aurangabad ATS unit and target former SP Navinchandra Reddy.
Further, the agency has said that alleged Islamic State (IS) handler Farooque alias Shafi Armar used the promise of sex slaves in Iraq and 72 virgins in paradise after martyrdom as a bait to lure Parbhani youth Nasir Chaus into ISIS.
In turn, Chaus formed a module tasked with eliminating former SP Navinchandra Reddy. The Maharashtra ATS will file a chargesheet in the Parbhani case within a fortnight, which will mention these details.
Reports said that Shafi Armar befriended Chaus through social networking sites, and messenger apps like Telegram and Snapchat. Armar indoctrinated Chaus, claiming he would get virgins in paradise after he had martyred himself for the cause.
Armar also made Chaus the ‘Emir of Parbhani’ in order to motivate him, said reports.
Chaus was taken in and immediately formed a three-person module. He then sought to travel to Iraq, but Farooque alias Shafi Armar told him to stay back in India and carry out an attack here first.
Following these revelations however, there is disagreement between the ATS and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) over who should handle the case. The ATS contends that it should be allowed to proceed with the case, and claims it has asked to file a charge sheet.
On the other hand, the NIA believes that the reason to transfer the case from the Maharashtra ATS is the presence of a “common handler”.
“Farooque alias Shafi Armar is an erstwhile member of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) who defected along with his brother Sultan to form Ansar ul Tawhid (AuT) that has pledged its allegiance to the IS. We have been probing a pan-India module that was busted in January this year, whose handler is also Farooque. We want to probe if the two cases are connected and, therefore, have taken the case,” an NIA official was quoted as saying.
