Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested four operatives allegedly linked to a proscribed al-Qaeda outfit known as al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), officials said, adding that one of the arrested operatives even possessed documents pertaining to India's Operation Sindoor.
The four were said to be involved in running a fake currency racket, as well as in spreading the terror group's ideology using social media and suspicious applications to spread the terror group's ideology, an NDTV report said, citing unnamed sources.
The sources added that the terrorists had used “auto-delete” applications as well, in order to wipe out all traces of their communications.
“All four had been under close watch for their suspected association with AQIS, a banned terrorist outfit,” said Gujarat ATS DIG Sunil Joshi. He confirmed that the operation was based on specific intelligence received by Gujarat ATS DSP Harsh Upadhyay (on June 10) about 5 suspicious Instagram accounts, and declared that it was carried out in a coordinated manner across multiple locations.
"They were sharing their content on a religious basis, against democracy, against India," he added.
The AQIS, with which the four operatives have long been linked, had reportedly made contact with them on social media.
The ATS also seized a sword and al-Qaeda material from Fardeen, and found that Faiq had been in contact with a few Pakistani Instagram accounts which provided him material for jihadi activities. Apart from Operation Sindoor documents retrieved from Fardeen, the ATS had also found posts they made during Operation Sindoor, that were "anti-Indian Govt, pro-Pakistani and instigating material on religious basis"
"Saifullah and Fardeen were produced before the Court today and they have sent to 14-day remand. The remaining two accused will be produced before Court tomorrow," Joshi explained.
India has clarified to the world that Operation Sindoor—a series of "measured" precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure on Pakistan—had been a response to the devastating Pahalgam attack of April 22, for which it blamed Islamabad.