The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches in Srinagar and arrested one operative of The Resistance Front (TRF). Raids were conducted throughout Thursday at different locations in Kashmir Valley.
Identified as Arsalan Feroz alias Arsalan Soub, who is the son of Feroz Ahmad Ahanger and a resident of Zaldagar, M. R. Gunj, Srinagar, was arrested in connection with radicalizing, motivating, and recruiting youth in case number RC 32/2021/NIA/DLI. Arsalan Feroz was motivating youth to join Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit.
According to NIA, the case relates to the conspiracy hatched for radicalizing, motivating, and recruiting youth of Jammu and Kashmir to effect violent activities in the Union Territory and rest of the country by Sajjad Gul, Salim Rehmani and Abu Saad, and Saifullah Sajid Jutt, Commanders of LeT/TRF.
In furtherance of the said criminal conspiracy, they are recruiting individuals Over Ground Workers (OGWs) to carry out reconnaissance of pre-determined targets, coordinating and transporting weapons to support LeT and its frontal affiliate TRF. Till now four accused have been arrested in the instant case.
The raids were conducted throughout Thursday in which some incriminating documents and digital devices were also recovered.
A case was registered on June 26
Initially, a case regarding radicalization of youth was registered by NIA in connection with the conspiracy of the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS to radicalize and recruit impressionable youth in India to wage violent 'Jihad' against the Indian State.
The ISIS terrorists operating from various conflict zones along with ISIS cadres in India, by assuming pseudo-online identities, have created a network wherein ISIS-related propaganda material is disseminated for radicalizing and recruiting members to the fold of ISIS.
In this connection, an India-centric online propaganda magazine 'the Voice of Hind' (VOH) is published on monthly basis with an aim to incite and radicalize impressionable youth.
First raid was conducted on July 11
After registering the case, NIA conducted raids on two successive days on July 11 and 12 in different locations in Kashmir Valley and arrested three terrorists of ISIS in the Voice of Hind (VoH) case.
The arrested terrorists were identified as Umar Nisar, Tanveer Ahmad Bhat, and Rameez Ahmad Lone. They were nabbed for conspiracy of the terrorist group ISIS to radicalize and recruit impressionable youth in India to wage violent Jihad against the Indian State.
The NIA recovered a large number of incriminating documents, multiple digital devices, and T-shirts with the ISIS logo. Preliminary examination of the seized material and the accused persons revealed that they were active cadres of ISIS and have been using cyberspace to propagate inciting material by the online magazine (VoH).
Raids were also conducted on October 10
Raids were also conducted on October 10 at 16 locations in different parts of Kashmir Valley in connection with cases of radicalizing innocent youth.
The NIA sleuths conducted raids across different locations in Srinagar, Anantnag, Kulgam, and Baramulla as part of its probe into the ISIS-Voice of Hind case.
The dreaded terror outfit has been releasing an online monthly India-centric magazine by the name of 'Voice of Hind' (VOH) since February 2020, which emerged as a fountainhead of large-scale radicalization of Muslim youth in the Valley.
