HyderabadNew Delhi: Intelligence agencies on Friday arrested an Indian woman just after she was deported from the UAE for alleged involvement in online recruitment for the terror outfit Islamic State.
The 38-year-old woman, identified as Afsha Jabeen alias `Nicky Joseph', had been posing as a British na tional while trying to lure people through social media into joining IS, sources said.
Afsha, who hails from Hyderabad, was taken into custody at the city air port after being deported along with her husband and children.
The arrest followed nine months of intense surveillance mounted on her in India, the UAE and Britain. She used to motivate In dians to join IS, mainly through Facebook groups, first sending them literature and other propaganda material and later coercing them to join the outfit.
Afsha's name first surfaced on January 16, 2015, when police arrested Salman Mohiuddin, 32, a UStrained engineer from Hyderabad's Habeebnagar area, minutes before he was to board a flight to Dubai with plans to join the IS.
During interrogation, Salman confessed that he was indoctrinated by Nicky Joseph and that he was to join her in Dubai. Afsha had laid out plans for Salman's travel to Syria through Turkey .
Though Afsha told Salman that she was a British national living in Dubai and was married to cardiologist Aforaly Paul, Indian sleuths who monitored her online activity and cross-verified her details with external intelligence agencies of UAE and UK, realised that Nicky Joseph was none other than Afsha Jabeen of Tolichowki.
When she was just four, Afsha left the country along with her family and went to Abu Dhabi. After finishing her schooling in Abu Dhabi, Afsha came back to Hyderabad in 1996 to complete her studies and got enrolled at Shadan College in 1999.
She later returned to UAE and in 2002 married Devender Batra (alias Mustafa) of Himayatnagar in Hyderabad, who was a real estate businessman in Dubai. Afsha and Devender have three daughters, police said.
While police believe that Devender, who had converted to Islam, has no IS links, it is not clear how Afsha got influenced by IS and began working as one of the outfit's online recruiters. “Devender knew very little about her IS links and we came to know that he told her at least once not to spend too much time talking to people on various Facebook groups,“ said an Intelligence official.
According to police, Afsha was administering an FB group--`Islam vs Chris tianity Friendly Discussions' -to attract, indoctrinate and motivate people from across the world, including India, to join the IS.
Influenced by Afsha, Salman had started his own FB group -`Daula News Group' -to intensify efforts on recruiting for the IS. Police believe apart from Salman, Afsha may have influenced several others in India.
Afsha is said to have been in touch with several Indian boys and girls for more than a year.
Her arrest has raised concerns among the intelligence agencies which are now focusing on Islamic State's activities in India.They suspect there could be more such `recruiters' trying to motivate Indian youth.
Sources said Afsha and a few others tried to motivate youths from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar and some other states.
Sleuths are now scanning the email IDs and social networking sites she used to `hunt' for probable recruits for the IS.
Indians lured via Facebook groups to join IS: Intel report
HyderabadNew Delhi: Intelligence agencies on Friday arrested an Indian woman just after she was deported from the UAE for alleged involvement in online recruitment for the terror outfit Islamic State.
The 38-year-old woman, identified as Afsha Jabeen alias `Nicky Joseph', had been posing as a British na tional while trying to lure people through social media into joining IS, sources said.
Afsha, who hails from Hyderabad, was taken into custody at the city air port after being deported along with her husband and children.
The arrest followed nine months of intense surveillance mounted on her in India, the UAE and Britain. She used to motivate In dians to join IS, mainly through Facebook groups, first sending them literature and other propaganda material and later coercing them to join the outfit.
Afsha's name first surfaced on January 16, 2015, when police arrested Salman Mohiuddin, 32, a UStrained engineer from Hyderabad's Habeebnagar area, minutes before he was to board a flight to Dubai with plans to join the IS.
During interrogation, Salman confessed that he was indoctrinated by Nicky Joseph and that he was to join her in Dubai. Afsha had laid out plans for Salman's travel to Syria through Turkey .
Though Afsha told Salman that she was a British national living in Dubai and was married to cardiologist Aforaly Paul, Indian sleuths who monitored her online activity and cross-verified her details with external intelligence agencies of UAE and UK, realised that Nicky Joseph was none other than Afsha Jabeen of Tolichowki.
When she was just four, Afsha left the country along with her family and went to Abu Dhabi. After finishing her schooling in Abu Dhabi, Afsha came back to Hyderabad in 1996 to complete her studies and got enrolled at Shadan College in 1999.
She later returned to UAE and in 2002 married Devender Batra (alias Mustafa) of Himayatnagar in Hyderabad, who was a real estate businessman in Dubai. Afsha and Devender have three daughters, police said.
While police believe that Devender, who had converted to Islam, has no IS links, it is not clear how Afsha got influenced by IS and began working as one of the outfit's online recruiters. “Devender knew very little about her IS links and we came to know that he told her at least once not to spend too much time talking to people on various Facebook groups,“ said an Intelligence official.
According to police, Afsha was administering an FB group--`Islam vs Chris tianity Friendly Discussions' -to attract, indoctrinate and motivate people from across the world, including India, to join the IS.
Influenced by Afsha, Salman had started his own FB group -`Daula News Group' -to intensify efforts on recruiting for the IS. Police believe apart from Salman, Afsha may have influenced several others in India.
Afsha is said to have been in touch with several Indian boys and girls for more than a year.
Her arrest has raised concerns among the intelligence agencies which are now focusing on Islamic State's activities in India.They suspect there could be more such `recruiters' trying to motivate Indian youth.
Sources said Afsha and a few others tried to motivate youths from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar and some other states.
Sleuths are now scanning the email IDs and social networking sites she used to `hunt' for probable recruits for the IS.
