Global terrorist Shafi Armar read newspapers and reported atrocities against Indian Muslims
Shafi's name cropped up in Indian investigations for the first time when a module in Rajasthan was busted in 2014.
Today he has been declared a global terrorist. A few years, Shafi Armar back, Armar then with the Indian Mujahideen was tasked with reading newspapers and reporting atrocities against Muslims.
Shafi who now heads the Ansar ut-Tawhid, the Indian recruiting wing of the ISIS broke away with the Indian Mujahideen a couple of years back. Shafi was in Dubai when the founder of the IM, Riyaz Bhatkal got in touch with him.
Riyaz
assigned
him
the
job
of
a
media
manager.
While
in
Dubai,
his
job
was
to
source
Indian
news
and
find
out
if
there
were
atrocities
being
committed
against
Muslims.
Shafi
would
then
pass
on
all
the
details
to
Riyaz
based
on
which
the
IM
would
set
their
strategy
and
propaganda.
After
breaking
away
with
the
IM,
he
joined
his
brother
Sultan
Armar
and
began
recruiting
for
the
ISIS.
Shafi alive and in Afghanistan:
The latest update given by an Intelligence Bureau official was that Armar is in Afghanistan. The ISIS has set up the Afghan Khorasan and is looking to recruit scores of Indias. The outfit has already managed to rope in at least 2 dozens persons from Kerala. He was presumed deed a few years back. However his trail was found when the NIA conducted a country wide raid to bust ISIS modules.
Who is Shafi Armar, the Karnataka born global ISIS terrorist
Chief recruiter:
He became the chief recruiter in India after his brother Sultan Armar died in March 2015. The state department also listed his numerous aliases, including Anjan Bhai, Chote Maula and Yousouf al-Hindi.
"He
has
cultivated
a
group
of
dozens
of
ISIS
sympathisers
who
are
involved
in
terrorist
activities
across
India,
such
as
plotting
attacks,
procuring
weapons,
and
identifying
locations
for
terrorist
training
camps,"
said
a
statement
from
the
state
department.
Shafi
Armar
is
the
second
among
the
three
children
of
a
family
that
hails
from
the
coastal
town
of
Bhatkal
in
Karnataka.
His
elder
brother
Sultan
Armar
is
said
to
have
taken
him
along
with
him
and
together
they
had
joined
the
Indian
Mujahideen.
Joining the IM:
Hailing from the same place, both Shafi and Sultan were taken into the IM by Riyaz Bhatkal. While Sultan was active in IM operations, Shafi was more of a second in command for the operations undertaken by his brother.
Shafi does not have any record of taking part in terrorist activities in the real sense. His activities were online and he was in charge of the media operations. A lot of literature concerning the ISIS posted on the Ansar site were said to be the handiwork of Shafi. When for the first time, Riyaz Bhatkal had roped in the Armar brothers, they were called to Pakistan. At Pakistan it was decided that the Armar brothers would go to Oman set up a base and then focus on Indian recruitments.
Breaking away from the IM:
An argument broke out over certain issues relating to Iqbal, the elder brother of Riyaz Bhatkal. The Armar brothers found that a sum of Rs 60 crore given to the Bhatkal brothers to carry out terror activities was misappropriated and not being put to the right use.
Further the Armar brothers also raised objections about Iqbal being involved in an illicit affair. They felt that this was anti Islam and objected to the same. A fight broke out and the Armar brothers decided to split. These incidents have been narrated to the police by Yasin Bhatkal who is presently in jail.
The Armar brothers then spoke with Yasin who was in India and told him about their intentions of breaking up with the IM. They said that they would want to shift loyalties to either the Al-Qaeda or the ISIS which had real concern about the religious cause.
The journey into ISIS:
After breaking away from the IM, the Armar brothers decided to join the Al-Qaeda. However at that point in time, the ISIS was growing fast and they felt that this outfit was a better bet. Also the fading prospects of the Al-Qaeda was another reason for them to consider the ISIS.
Both the brothers then went up online and began posting literature for the ISIS. They managed to get the attention of the top rung of the ISIS and one fine day as the Global Islamic Council was announced the Armar brothers became the choice for the ISIS. The Ansar-ul-Tawhid was floated and while Sultan decided that he wanted to battle along with the ISIS, Shafi decided to carry out activities online.
The Indian ISIS module:
Shafi's name cropped up in Indian investigations for the first time when a module in Rajasthan was busted in 2014. Shafi's name had cropped up briefly and the NIA felt that it was he who had carried out these recruitments.
When the module at Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh was busted in 2015, Shafi's name cropped up prominently. The members of the module headed by Irfan Khan said that he was in touch with Shafi and it is together that they planned a series of attacks in India.
The intention was to launch the first dedicated module in India for the ISIS. All these days the ISIS has only been recruiting out of India, but by setting up a dedicated module, they felt that they could boost up the recruitment drive.
According to Shafi, the module would provide the right platform for those youth who believed in the ISIS ideology but did not wish to travel to either Iraq or Syria.
IntelligenceBureau officials feel that Shafi has taken the mantle from his brother Sultan who was killed last month in a combat at Kobane in Syria.
Over the past year his name has cropped up several times. Several modules of the ISIS have been busted. All the members of the module have said that they were being recruited and handled by Yusuf al-Hindi, an alias that Shafi Armar uses.
OneIndia News