New Delhi: The busting of the Faridabad terror module, which allegedly carried out the car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort in November last year, exposed how white-collar professionals were operating dangerous terror cells in India. It also indicated growing interest among similar youth in establishing terror cells and engaging in anti-national activities.
These terror cells have emerged independently, with minimal interference from outfits such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Such modules draw inspiration from the ideology of these terror groups but maintain limited contact with operatives based in Pakistan during their formation and subsequent operations.
An official said the pattern of picking educated and well-to-do youth was part of a changed strategy. “Such persons are more lethal, require very little guidance and are capable of planning and executing high-value attacks while also raising funds on their own,” the official said.
While such modules are likely to continue emerging, agencies have noticed a significant change in their recruitment patterns. Over the past six to eight months, there has been a shift in the profile of those being recruited.
“Greater emphasis is now being placed on daily wage workers, less educated persons and those in financial distress. These recruits are not driven by ideology but are willing to work for small sums ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000,” the official said.
These are the persons who are being picked up by the likes of Shahzad Bhatti to run surveillance rackets, drug smuggling and short-time hits.
Take the case of Maqsood Ali, a 21-year-old daily wager arrested in Coimbatore, in Tamil Nadu. He was picked up to run a surveillance racket and also recruit more persons into this network. He had managed to recruit persons from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Another official said none of these persons were highly educated, and neither were they high profile. Most of them bit the bait for the sake of money. Even in the recent arrests made across the country by the various state police units, the recruits were all in for the money and were not driven by ideology, the official added.
Counter-terror analysts say that such recruits are not as lethal as the high-profile white-collar terrorists.
They need to be hand-held, and their operations may not be top-notch or high-profile. However, they can create a lot of damage to the security apparatus of the country.
Such recruits, especially the daily wagers, do not come under scrutiny. They come across as any other person going about his work. The recruit uses this profile to enter crowded areas such as railway stations or bus stands and install CCTV cameras that provide a live feed to handlers based out of Pakistan.
“Even the people who see them do not suspect them as they look like genuine individuals who have been called in to either repair or install a camera,” the official said.
The Pakistan-based networks appear to be going back to the old style of recruitment when it comes to such operations.
Several years back, the terror handlers would exploit the financial condition of a youth and then rope him in. In those days, these persons were assigned to collect material to prepare bombs, and once the same was ready, they would plant them at the specified location. Several bomb blasts took place in many parts of the country as the execution of the task never came under the eye, and none raised any suspicion about them.
Officials say that this indicates that the Pakistan-based networks are not only focusing on self-radicalised modules comprising white-collar recruits. They are going back to the old style of recruitment where economic status is the tool to recruit and get the job done, an official said.