The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested suspected ISIS operatives from Bhatkal in Karnataka in a coordinated counter-terrorism operation led by India’s Intelligence agency, NIA and the state Police.
According to the NIA, Jufri Jawhar Damudi aka Abu Hajir Al Badri was high up in the hierarchy of ISKP and a key ISIS operative. He was arrested along with one of his associates Ameen Zuhaib on August 6.
Badri was in the notice of the central probe agencies since April 2020 for his active role in the production and dissemination of ISIS propaganda monthly online magazine “Voice of Hind”.
Besides indulging in the ISIS propaganda and media activity, he was also looking after logistical support including procurement of arms and explosives, funding for mujahideen and recruitment. He was in direct contact with Islamic State leaders in Khorasan (Afghanistan) and Syria, the NIA said
The NIA further stated that the ISIS operative also instigated his cyber contacts to kill kafirs (disbelievers), police personnel, journalists etc and inflicting damage to temples and government properties.
“On cyberspace, Abu Hajir Al Badri claimed to be based in Afghanistan/Pakistan and was taking all security precautions to evade his detection by the intelligence agencies. Despite his claim to be based in Khorasan/Pakistan on social media, it was assessed that ‘Abu Hajir Al Badri’ might be based in India and not Khorasan,” it said.
“Based on this assessment and the leads developed through the revelations of Qasim Khurasani aka Umar Nisar (arrested on July 11, 2021), further intelligence investigation by Indian central agencies in co-ordination with foreign agencies, the real identity of Abu Hajir Al Badri was established as Bhatkal-based Jufri Jawhar Damudi,” the NIA added.
During the initial probe, it was also established that Jufri Jawhar Damudi is the younger brother of Adnan Hassan Damudi, who was arrested by NIA in 2017 in ISIS-related cases.
21 locations raided across India
The security agencies have recovered digital media devices and incriminating ‘jihadi’ literature from the raided locations. In the last one month, raids have been conducted at 21 locations spread across Anantnag, Srinagar, Bandipore, Baramulla, Mangaluru, Bengaluru and Bhatkal resulted in 10 arrests from three separate modules of ISIS in India.
This Pan-India crackdown and back to back arrests of two prominent Islamic State (ISIS) operatives i.e Qasim Khurasani and Abu Hajir Al Badri is a major blow to the Islamic State and these disruptions would degrade the ISIS network in India significantly, the NIA said.
