New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS) The Shehzad Bhatti network which lured and recruited scores of Indian youth to carry out criminal acts, has largely been dismantled by the agencies. While scores of social media accounts including the ones operated by his followers were taken down during crackdown by the agencies, the gangster is learnt to have come up with other techniques to reach out to the Indian youth.
Following the announcement made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that this module was destroyed, Bhatti had put out a video in which he questioned the claim. He went on to say that those arrested were not his men. He also said in a challenging tone that all the men recruited by him and his people were still working for him.
An official said that the claim made by Bhatti is false and his modules have largely been dismantled. Now with most of his social media accounts mainly on Instagram being taken down following legal requests, Bhatti has started engaging with recruits and potential recruits using VPN. This is a clear sign that he is attempting to rebuild his modules in India.
He is also in touch with Indians who are abroad, the official said. He plans on recruiting Indians abroad and then handing over the job to them so that they could lure the youth in India, the official said.
An Intelligence Bureau officer said Bhatti who is an ISI asset will not give up easily. This is one of the most cost effective networks of the ISI, where the money spent is paltry when compared to what goes into running outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad, the official said.
Youth have been lured for as little as Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 and such amounts are peanuts for the ISI, the official also said. The action by the Indian agencies that broke the Bhatti network was a major setback for the ISI. The ISI however has told Bhatti to find other means to continue with his India activities and ensure that the modules are rebuilt.
With the India agencies keeping a close tab on all of Bhatti’s social media accounts, he has been reaching out to the youth using VPN. His associates too are using similar methods to keep in touch with the Indian youth who they would eventually look to recruit. Another official said that those part of the Bhatti network continue to scout for potential recruits on the social media.
This time however they do not converse directly on the social media, but use VPN instead to avoid detection, the official said. Another aspect that the agencies are keeping a watch on is this network trying to reach out to Indian youth abroad. The plan is to recruit such youth and then ask them to scout for targets in India.
Officials say that when compared to the other networks that the ISI runs, this one is unique. This is a network that mainly focuses on surveillance. The recruits are expected to be the eyes and ears of the ISI. The Pakistani spy agency wants these persons to continuously provide information to them so that the bigger attacks could be carried out by larger terror groups. The job that these recruits have to carry out is less risky and hence even the money that is offered is low, the official said.
Currently, the agencies are scanning all accounts held by Bhatti and also his fans and are having them taken down. Recently, Meta integrated its platforms-Instagram and Facebook with the Sahyog portal, which is platform developed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (14C0).
The platform coordinates content take down requests under Section 79 (3) (b) of the Information Technology Ac. This integration allows the law enforcement agencies to issue automated real time blocking directions.
This would not need any individual human review by Meta. Such measures and the taking down of these multiple Bhatti linked social media accounts has led the ISI to re-write its strategy. The job to battle this menace would be a continuous one as the ISI would not let go off this ambitious network so easily, the official said.
–IANS
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