The Gujarat anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has arrested a 30-year-old woman from Bengaluru for her alleged role as the key conspirator in a terror module linked to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), it was reported on Wednesday.
The reports citing sources claimed the woman, Shama Parveen, was running the entire network and coordinating operations from Karnataka.
Parveen, originally from Jharkhand and residing in Bengaluru’s Manoramapalya area for the past five years, was apprehended early Tuesday after a raid at her residence following intelligence leads from earlier detainees linked to AQIS.
She was produced before the 8th additional chief metropolitan magistrate in Bengaluru, who approved her transfer to Gujarat police custody for further investigation.
According to unnamed ATS officials, Parveen was in touch with four suspects — Mohd Fardeen, Sefullah Kureshi, Zeeshan Ali, and Mohd Faiq — who were arrested earlier this month from Gujarat, Delhi, and Noida.
Aged between 20 and 25, these individuals were allegedly in contact with each other via a social media app and were assigned high-profile targets across India.
Parveen reportedly used Instagram and other platforms to propagate extremist content and radicalise youth, especially by promoting the concept of “Ghazwa-e-Hind,” a term associated with religious warfare in radical Islamist circles.
Not much is known about Al Qaeda in India. In a paper published in 2017, the Middle East Institute said that in "September 2014, the Middle Al-Qaeda Central (AQC) announced the formation of a new regional affiliate called “Qaedat al-Jihad fi’shibhi al-qarrat al-Hindiya,” or Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)."
A recent UN report by the Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee noted that AQIS, under its current leader Osama Mehmood, is trying to expand operations into Jammu and Kashmir, Bangladesh and Myanmar.