The homegrown terror outfit Indian Mujahideen has transformed into a “factory churning out terrorists” in India. The police top brass across India has been warned that the IM’s “resurgence” is taking place with new modules set up in New Delhi and Bihar.
The annual DGPs’ conference, ending all speculation, has for the first time officially declared that IM “has ISI patronage”.
The Delhi police, in a conference presentation on Friday, said the IM was targeting disenchanted youth comprising “petty criminals” and “highly-paid software professionals” for assembling bombs, Internet hacking and is extensively using social networking sites to avoid detection.
The banned outfit is also picking “normal cosmopolitan-looking cadres” to give the security forces the slip.
Many inter-state modules of IM are said to exist in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala. Posing a challenge for investigators, it is revealed that IM modules are entirely unconnected, and that even within a module strict observance of the “need to know” principle is observed.
The IM also has a substancial flow of funds from other countries routed illegally via hawala channels, the Delhi police claimed.
Top IM leaders like Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal and several others are believed to have escaped via Bangladesh and Nepal to Pakistan and the UAE, from where they can direct cadres in India. The Delhi police unearthed an arms and ammunition factory run by IM in the national capital last year, demonstrating its capacity to fabricate high-end weapons.
The role of the IM, which largely comprises former Simi cadres, has been established in a majority of terror blasts over the past five years. The Delhi police has also warned that the IM is trying to steer clear of known criminals and identifiable former Simi men so that they stay off the police radar, and hunting for new recruits through innocuous religious platforms in cities like Pune and Mangalore.