Dawood missing since May

Dawood Ibrahim has been missing from his home in Karachi since May 28 2014. It was days after the Narendra Modi government took over that the ISI decided to shift its financial asset to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He has been in that region since the past five months and the ISI will not take a single chance to move him from there, an Intelligence Bureau official confirmed.

The apprehension that the ISI had was that India had already collected all possible information on Dawood and knew his exact whereabouts. India had contemplated carrying out a major operation to nab him dead or alive and in a bid to scuttle this plan, the ISI along with its own security personnel moved him to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in the month of May. Moreover the ISI was also well aware that nabbing Dawood Ibrahim was a pet project of the National Security Advisor and wanted to take no chance.

Keeping Dawood in the Af-Pk border only meant that his base was entirely new and they could keep moving him around as and when India gathered intelligence on him. The IB official further informed that the Af-Pk border is a safe den for several ISI assets. They have kept even the AQIS chief Asim Umar over there. These areas are heavily guarded and controlled by the ISI and the Paksitan army and they consider it to be safer to keep their operatives there rather than in Karachi.

Burdhwan loaded with political messages

The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or the JMB which is the militant wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh had set its eyes on carrying out a series of high profile abductions in a bid to ensure the safe entry of several Bangladesh Nationalist Party members. According to the input shared with the Research and Analysis Wing on the political ramifications of this incident at Burdhwan it becomes clear that there was more than what met the eye and the JMB had full plans on helping the political rivals of the Awami League which had filed a series of corruption cases against members of the BNP.

The mighty political ramifications this incident has prompted the Prime Minister to even send his top team of security officials headed by the National Security Advisor to Burdhwan to take stock of the situation. The visit by the NSA not only sends a very tough message to the West Bengal establishment which has been accused of a cover up but also will show Bangladesh that India is very serious about dismantling the terror network that their terrorists have set up India.

During the visit, the NSA and his team took stock of the situation while also advising the investigators about the importance of this probe. There is an urgent need to shut down these terror factories and act on the intelligence reports shared between the two countries. At no cost should these modules flourish and by the end of the probe the JMB should be history is what the special team from Delhi told the investigators. He also emphasized the need to ensure that there is cooperation from the state police as well and how this plays an important role since intelligence reports suggest that the JMB will look to send more people into West Bengal. There is also a warning of aggression among the JMB and they may try and orchestrate a strike within the country in a bid to seek revenge against the busting of their modules.

Bangladesh has expressed a great deal of concern over the Burdhwan module of the JMB and India on the other hands wants good relations with Bangladesh. India has assured Bangladesh of a thorough probe and also shutting down these modules which number nearly 53 in West Bengal alone.

The modules of the JMB had proposed to carry out a series of strikes in Bangladesh. They had set up bomb factories and procured plenty of material right from ball bearings, pellets, lathes, ammonium nitrate among others. They had even set up a Fidayeen wing to execute attacks and even target the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. They had planned on undertaking a major hostage crisis in Bangladesh and then demand a safe passage for the members of the BNP who had gone on exile, the R& AW report also suggests.

Several members of the BNP have fled Bangladesh thus creating a political vaccum. The Awami League in particular has been extremely harsh on the Jamaat which has been trying to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh. The Jamaat has been in regular touch with various radical outfits including the Al-Qaeda to execute this plan, but they have repeatedly failed as the Bangladesh establishment has been particularly harsh on them. The Al-Qaeda too has spoken up for the Jamaat recently and felt the need to put up a brave fight in order to ensure that an Islamic state is established. The Al-Qaeda even went up to the extent of accusing the Awami League of walking into India’s trap and converting Bangladesh into a Hindu state as well.

Burdhwan’s money trail busted

The information shared by the Indian and Bangladeshi Intelligence agencies have found that the militant wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami known as the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh used the same route that even the Al-Qaeda used to finance it’s operations. Three NGO’s ‎- Rabata-al-alam-al-islami, al-nahiyan and the Revival of Islamic Heritage have been primarily responsible for moving money into West Bengal to fund the Burdhwan blast Intelligence agencies have found.
Money to the tune of RS 850 crore moved out of West Bengal between 2009 and 2012. Some part of this money was parked at the Islami Bank of Bangladesh while the rest was moved to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Mexico . Three NGOs, one at Kuwait and two in Saudi received money which was meant to be then transferred to the JMB through a hawala channel. The Hawala channel connecting Bangladesh and India directly was avoided and another channel was used. The money management was handed over to Kausar who today is on the run. The interrogation details reveal his name several times and the accused say he was the one who brought the money in.

Jamaat’s marry and squad strategy

 Another modus operandi of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh that has come to light is that they were planning on settling down in India with a view of making West Bengal it’s permanent headquarters. The conversation between mufazzal and the rest of the members who are being questioned by the NIA suggests that they were planning on getting married to local men and women in a bid to settle down in West Bengal.

An NIA official said that the JMB had intended to set up a module exactly how they had set one up inBangladesh before they were driven out post 2006. This was not meant to be a one time operation but a continuous affair. They wanted to stage attacks in parts and launching attacks out of India would mean India would be blamed. They wanted to make it look lie a India staged attack against Bangladesh. Not only would this divert investigations but also strain relations between the two countries, the NIA official also informed.

Poribortan was for the Jamaat!!

Poribortan (change) was in every sense in West Bengal. The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh was dead in the 2006-07 after being brutally beaten by the Bangladesh establishment. From a huge strength of 2500 modules it dropped to 130. It was then that the Jamaat-e-Islami stepped in with its great contacts in West Bengal. Today the JMB which has been named by the National Investigating Agency has 280 operatives 56 modules and the capability of making 600 bombs.

From a meager 4 modules and 20 operatives in 2010 the JMB which was completely beaten down by the Bangladesh establishment got a breather thanks to the lackluster attitude of the West Bengal government which was infact tipped off at least 16 times by Central Intelligence Bureau officials in the past 4 years.

These developments in the past four years have almost gone out of control and with Bangladesh seeking report after report, the Union Government decided to even send down its top security establishment in batches to review the Burdhwan incident. While NIA director Sharad Kumar took stock of the situation on Friday, on Monday, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval wis likely to visit West Bengal along with the chief of the Research and Analysis Wing and the Intetelligence Bureau head.

The JMB which was locked in a major battle with the Bangladesh establishment was literally driven out of there. However they found support in the Jamaat-e-Islami which had a similar cause of driving the Awami League out. The entire plan to overthrow the Awami League commenced in 2009 and it was the Jamaat which stepped in and helped the JMB with the funds to set up operations. The fact that the Jamaat had links with the SIMI and also an Indian wing helped the cause even further. In the year 2010, they set up 2 modules in West Bengal with a set of 10 men. However they infiltrated several more in the coming years and it was in the year 2014 alone that they sent in 190 men along with the 1109 infiltrators who came into India from Bangladesh, two reports, one by the Intelligence Bureau and another by the National Investigating Agency submitted to the Home Ministry states.

The Jamaat-e-Islami used its political clout in West Bengal and according to both the NIA and the IB the establishment was well aware of their plan. There are indications that some top leaders who did not want their names to be dragged in advised the local leaders to help the JMB set up operations. In the bargain, government land was given away to set up illegal Madrasas and also part of the modus operandi an operative by the name Anirusul kept in touch with local leaders and too their houses on rent to avoid the heat.

By 2014 the JMB had managed to set up 53 modules across West Bengal and had proposed to prepare over 500 bombs both crude and sophisticated with an intention of carrying out attacks in Bangladesh.

During the course of our investigation we have found that the JMB was aided by the Jamaat for funds. It was the Jamaat which also had an Indian wing that came in handy to build up the local contacts. We have seen a great deal of aggression among the members during their interrogation and also at the time of seizures, an NIA officer probing the case informed. The aggression was aimed more at covering up the incident, the officer also pointed out.

Further the NIA has also found that several methods had been used to raise funds for the outfit. The cash flow was free into West Bengal and never restricted. The largest money flow was in the year 2012 and 2013 and it went completely unchecked. The money was raised through Hundi collections in Saudi Arabia, crop tax in Bangladesh and also some part of it is attributed to scam money that was parked in a Bangladesh bank, NIA officers point out.

SIMI’s two new wings

Ganimat ka Maal and the Electronic Warfare Group are the latest on the list of headaches for the Indian security agencies. Both these are off shoots of the Students Islamic Movement of India which is working for the Al-Qaeda and the Jamaat-ul-Bangladesh according to the questioning of Muddasar and Tariq who were arrested by the Hyderabad police two days back.

After hours of questioning by the Hyderabad police and the Intelligence Bureau, they have learnt that the SIMI had launched these two outfits in a bid to support their activities and also provide help to the Al-Qaeda and the Jammat which under the banner called the Al-Jihad. The Ganimat ka Maal is a wing of the SIMI which is focused solely on the finances and the impetus on these members is to raise money. This group has found to be involved in robberies, extortion and the National Investigating Agency says that they will see if the various acts of dacoity committed by them is linked to the Burdhwan blast as well. Tariq also revealed that they had launched this online portal called the Electronic Warfare Group in a bid to target recruitments online looking at the huge success this medium has provided for the other groups.

Muddasar told the police that the funds were hard to come by and they decided that an exclusive wing needed to be launched in order to raise money. The money, Muddasar says was to fund their operations and also help those who sought to leave the country and fight alongside the Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. On several occasions we have been in touch with some members from Madhya Pradesh and also West Bengal who have sought assistance in terms of money and also a place to hide. The job of the Ganimat ka Maal is to provide financial support to all outfits which are working under the banner of the Al-Jihad, he also pointed out. Apart from the incident at Karimagar, the Ganimat ka Maal has been involved in robberies in Madhya Pradesh as well. An officer with the Madhya Pradesh police informed that already they have been probing the robberies at Dewas and Itarsi and have found that it is the same group that is involved in these acts.

The original plan to set up both these outfits was suggested by Dr Faizal a SIMI operative. He had suggested that there should be several wings for different purposes. He felt the need to set up an online portal in a bid to increase the recruitments. He always maintained that there is not enough online presence for the SIMI as a result of which the recruitment process was taking place very slowly. He also said that the funding ought to be self-sufficient and transferring money from other countries would only lead to suspicion. Hence he had suggested that a wing ought to be created which would focus on raising money from India itself and this would involve robbery and extortion as well.

The questioning of Muddasar and Tariq further reveals that the SIMI members have been touch with Al-Qaeda operatives based out of both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The brief has been to create a strong force of over 5000 members who would be battle ready in a year or two. In this context the Electronic Warfare Group becomes extremely important and we had plans on targeting both men and women into joining us. Further it is also stated that they were told to lay emphasis on recruiting women as well since they come in handy during an attack. A woman operative not only helps in wading off the heat but she also is able to convince youth easily to join the force, Tariq told the police.

Intelligence Bureau officials based on the questioning of the two operatives have sounded an alert to the police stations in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Bihar and West Bengal to be on alert as the members of the Ganimat ka Maal could try and orchestrate more robberies and extortions. A great deal of emphasis must also be laid on tracking down online accounts remotely connected to the SIMI and for this the cyber crime wings have been told be on the look out. Online accounts can become viral very soon and this could cause a headache especially at a time when there are already so many sites which propagate jihad the IB official also pointed out.

Hyderabad is Al-Qaeda hub

Hyderabad was to be the epi-centre of the Al-Qaeda through which it was decided to target several youth from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. National Investigating Agency officials informed that it appears that the Al-Qaeda has been planning this operation for quite some time and a lot of information was leaked by the Subedar who was honey trapped. He had leaked information regarding several army officers and also the bases which may have been shared with the Al-Qaeda which has decided that Hyderabad would its base to further it cause of setting up the Al-Qaeda in the Sub-Continent or the AQIS.

Islami Bank Bangladesh parked Saradha funds

The Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited or the IBBL has had a notorious history and several agencies from across the world have red flagged this bank. Now with India seeking a report from Bangladesh on whether Saradha money was parked in this bank the probe becomes even more interesting. The Indian agencies suspect that the Jamaat-e-Islami collected Saradha funds, parked it in this bank following which it was moved to Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The scanner is also on another bank called the Social Islami Bank which is directly connected to banks in Saudi Arabia and the agencies suspect that the Saradha money could have moved through this channel.

Black money- An explainer

A hue and cry over the black money issue and the statements by the Finance Minister that the names cannot be revealed has become a debating subject in several circles. According to Professor R Vaidyanathan, of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore who has written extensively on the subject and even prepared a detailed paper on the same, the approach in a lot of ways is entirely wrong.

In this interview with Professor Vaidyanathan explains the entire issue and also says the money pertaining to income tax avoidance stashed away abroad amounts to just 20 to 25 per cent where as the rest is all pertaining to corruption, drug and arms smuggling. He also says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will watch what his ministers do and if he finds that they are not taking any concrete action he will step in himself and sought it out.

Doval’s Mission Kabul

The visit by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to Kabul is an extremely significant one in the wake of so much action in the region. During the visit the NSA will try and ensure that India plays a greater role in Afghanistan and also see to it that the dependancy of Afghanistan tilts more towards India when compared to other nations especially Pakistan.

The visit gains significance in the wake of Afghanistan looking to handle the situation in the country following the withdrawal of the American troops. Doval will discuss in Afghanistan the proposal to provide modern military hardware. Afghanistan will renew discussions with India led by the NSA on this aspect. This was a proposal that was first initiated under the Hamid Karzai regime but was put on the back burner due to influence from Pakistan. However the change of regime in Afghanistan has given both India and Afghanistan a fresh impetus and both nations have decided to take the relations further now.