Jung: Mechanical engineering student Sameer Alam joins a terrorist group
Part 1
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Jung: Mechanical engineering student Sameer Alam joins a terrorist group
Part 2
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She allegedly had the perfect cover.
Afsha Jabeen alias ‘Niclole’ or Nicky Joseph, aged 37, had been a mystery woman for Indian intelligence agencies so far.
She is alleged to have used the pseudo name Nicole Joseph, pretending to be a Christian who had converted to Islam.
“She used her fake identity to attract non-Muslims to take up Islam like her,” said an intelligence official.
Living in the UAE (though originally from Hyderabad), she was deported to India on Friday for allegedly being a recruiter for the dreaded ISIS after nine months of surveillance.
She was initially believed to be a British citizen who had converted to Islam and relocated to UAE.
After months of intelligence gathering on her, her real identity as Afsha Jabeen was revealed.
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| Afsha Jabeen alias ‘Niclole’ or Nicky Joseph had been a mystery woman for Indian intelligence agencies so far |
Sources said in 2008 she started a Facebook group called Islam vs Christianity, encouraging discussion on the two religions.
he intelligence official said she got the idea of pretending to be a Christian who converted to Islam after seeing a video on You Tube.
She married an Indian, Devendra Batra, who also adopted Islam and is now known as Mustafa.
Intelligence agencies believe that the number of Indians who have joined ISIS has gone up to 30
The couple has three young daughters who were also deported to India along with her. She got married to Batra in 2002 when the two worked together in a private firm in UAE.
Her husband ran a real estate business in the country, oblivious of her activities on cyber space.
She allegedly used the internet to radicalise young Indian boys and prepare them to join ISIS.
“We suspect some of them she was in touch with did join ISIS eventually. She is not revealing much at the moment,” said the intelligence official, who was part of the operation to track her.
Mail Today had reported earlier that the terror group has headhunters within India and among Indians living abroad for recruiting youth attracted to the idea of establishing a Caliphate.
Sources said once Afsha starts giving answers many more Indians who are associated with the ISIS could be identified.
Her name first cropped up in January 2015 after Telangana Police arrested a Hyderabad youth Salman Mohiuddin who was in touch with her.
She was allegedly responsible for indoctrinating him and convincing him to join ISIS.
Salman had taken his Masters degree in engineering from Texas, but returned to Hyderabad as he did not get a visa extension.
Salman had been active on social media and had also created a Facebook group called Daula Islamia or Islamic State along with four other administrators in India.
They allegedly radicalised youth for jehadi activities.
The others were from Delhi, Surat, Mumbai and Jammu and Kashmir, but Salman had no clue of their real identities.
After his arrest, Salman revealed that he met a lady named Nicky Joseph, a UK citizen who converted to Islam and went off to the UAE.
Later, they were in constant touch on social media and also started Facebook pages to talk about ISIS.
“They got friendly and she convinced him to join ISIS. He wanted to marry her after reaching Dubai. She told him that after getting married the two would join ISIS,” said an intelligence official.
Salman got his visa for Dubai but was intercepted and arrested before he could leave.
He had also allegedly been in touch with an ISIS leader in Syria.
Afsha had been in UAE for years as her parents shifted there when she was still a child.
After completing her schooling there, she returned to India.
She graduated from Shadan College in Hyderabad and went back to UAE.
Afsha has been arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, section 13 (1) which states whoever (a) takes part in or commits, or (b) advocates abets, advises or incites the commission of any unlawful activity shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years.
She has also been charged with section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language along with 120 (B) dealing with criminal conspiracy.
Officials interrogating her said they now need to know who her handler was and whether she was directly in touch with ISIS leaders.
“She operated through Facebook pages and chat rooms identifying and radicalising young Muslim youth who were vulnerable to the ISIS propaganda,” said an official.
