'Big cat, Ninja fox' were profiles used by Gujarat Islamic State operatives

'Big cat and Ninja Fox' were the two profile names that were used by a handler of South Asian origin to communicate with the two brothers who were arrested in Gujarat for their alleged links with the Islamic State. Messages exchanged between the handler and Vaseem Ramodiya had come under the scanner of the Intelligence Bureau following which was arrested along with his brother Naeem.

[Wife's 'impotent' jibe led Gujarat man into the Islamic State]

The proxy profile was used on an end-to-end encrypted online messaging service called Telegram. The messages were exchanged in Hindi which has led the investigators to suspect that the handler may be of Indian origin. Preliminary investigations suggest that the handler may be based out of the country. According to Gujarat ATS chief, Himanshu Shukla, they are still probing his origin and location.

The use of technology:

The use of high end technology has become a worry for security agencies. For instance the Lashkar-e-Tayiba used engineering modifications done on ICOM RT sets (made in Japan) to cover whole range of VHF frequency. This means that the opeative required a high degree of precision engineering in electronics.

[These brothers planned lone-wolf strikes in Gujarat: ATS]

Providing the terrorists with specific Grid References for the route to be followed and use of GPS, compass and topographical sheets during movement also established that terrorists were trained and mentored by military experts, the National Investigation Agency says.

Terrorists and their groups have across the world used technology to their advantage. Recently when the Indian security forces nabbed Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant Sajjad Ahmed, they had found that he had paired his mobile device with a radio set. He had said during his questioning that this new method was suggested to him by the Pakistan's ISI.

After pairing the device, he was able to send out messages and also location details. The Indian agencies were unable to track these messages as the signal was not being picked from the mobile tower. Investigations revealed that this had become a secure form of communication. Terrorists were able to communicate in remote areas and also securely without the fear of their location details being detected.

After it had been found that the mobile devices were being paired with very high frequency radio sets, a patch was worked upon. However, the software patch was unable to detect any signal when terrorists were using this new technology.

OneIndia News