ATS seeks information of ‘ISIS men’ from US, UK

The state ATS has written to authorities in the US and the UK seeking details of the social media accounts of four arrested terror suspects, as part of its probe into the case involving a Parbhani-based ISIS module

The ATS has sought, among other data, details related to accused Naserbin Abubakar Yafai alias Chaus’s account on Telegram — an instant messaging app — which contained a list of ISIS’s potential targets. Of the 4,681 people mentioned, 70 are from Mumbai and the rest of the state.

According to the ATS, there are other 292 targets that are located outside Maharashtra in India. The encrypted file, whose details the ATS wants, included the ‘wanted kill list’. The Asian Age first reported about the list on Monday. The probe agency had found an Excel file in a mobile phone seized from the accused with the heading, ‘Very important kill list’, which contained details including names, addresses, contact numbers, e-mail ids of 70 persons from Mumbai and Maharashtra, and 292 persons were from across the country and total 4,681 persons were from across the world.

During July and August this year, the ATS had, based on specific intelligence, busted a Parbhani-based ISIS module comprising local youths who were allegedly radicalised and incited to conduct violent acts by their Syria-based handler ‘Farook’, suspected to be an Indian and a former IM operative. The ATS had arrested four youths from Prabhani and Hingoli — Chaus, Mohammed Raisuddin Mohammed Siddique, Iqbal Ahmed Kabir Ahmed and Shahed Khan. The ATS has filed its chargesheet in a local court in Nanded court recently.

The ATS in its chargesheet said that Chaus has used ‘secure messaging apps’ and ‘encryption software’ to exchange messages, pictures and files with Farook. According to the ATS, important messages were exchanged by Chaus using various Telegram IDs and hence the ministry of home affairs has requested central authority of UK to provide certified information like registration details, all types of chats, messages and the audio and video clip history shared by these IDs. The ATS has also sought Chaus’s contact list.

The request has been made to US and UK to obtain electronic, documentary and other relevant evidence regarding the connection of accused and its other member with ISIS and also details of preparation to commit unlawful activities in India. The details are being sought under provisions of the Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement between India and these countries.

The ATS claimed to have found encryption software called ‘Amn Al-Mujahid’ from Chaus’s laptop, which according to probe agency is created by members of ISIS to exchange important messages so that these could not be tracked by anybody. The agency has found an operating system file of this software in Telegram Data of Chaus’s laptop.

Furthermore, the chargesheet has said that Chaus was member of a Telegram group and a member called Abu Uzair had shared a 1.3MB file named ‘Wanted Kill List’ on it. He had informed the members that it contained a list of people whose names are mentioned in the wanted list by the united cyber caliphate, Pakistan and India. When Chaus had asked Uzair the reason behind selecting these persons, the latter told him that they were digging up information about ISIS by using hacking techniques.