Bhatkal-born alleged ISIS recruiter Shafi Armar named global terrorist

Agencies
June 16, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 16: Fugitive chief recruiter for terror group ISIS in the Indian subcontinent Mohammed Shafi Armar was today named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US.Armar

The US State Treasury Department, while updating its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT), has included in it Armar, a native of Bhatkal in Karnataka, clearing the way for sanctions against him.

An Interpol Red Corner notice is also pending against the 30-year-old Armar, who has many aliases like 'Chhote Maula', 'Anjan Bhai' and 'Yousuf al-Hindi'.

Armar's name has now been added to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department which enforces economic sanctions programmes, primarily against countries and groups of individuals, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers.

The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals of the US.

Armar was said to have left for Pakistan along with his elder brother after crackdown on Indian Mujahideen cadres.

After a fight with Bhatkal brothers, including Riyaz, the founder of IM, in Pakistan, Armar is believed to have created Ansar ul Tawhid, which later pledged its allegiance to the ISIS.

There have been many reports of him having been dead in a drone attack or crackdown by the allied forces. However, every time intelligence agencies began giving credence to such reports, his name or voice cropped up in intercepts.

Tech savvy, Armar has been operating on Facebook and other personal messenger services to contact, brainwash and recruit youths from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

His links to the ISIS were also the highlight of the interrogation of Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested near the Nepal border in 2013.

Shafi Armar first came on the radar of investigation agencies when the NIA was probing suspected ISIS cadres in Ratlam of Madhya Pradesh.

During the interrogation of alleged IS operatives, it emerged that Armar was motivating and radicalising Muslim youths in India. He was said to have been recruiting youths for the Jund ul Khalifa-e-Hind through online radicalisation.

The NIA had charge-sheeted him along with five others for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror strikes in the national capital and also during ardhkumbh in Haridwar.

The National Investigation Agency had told a special court that these accused were planning to assemble Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) using extracts from "match sticks".

The United Arab Emirates had deported three Indians who were allegedly working for Armar.

It emerged during the interrogation of IM suspects that he was a self-proclaimed ally of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, chief of the ISIS.

Comments

Shankar
 - 
Saturday, 17 Jun 2017

So sad, youngsters falling prey to religious extremism.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 16: A 23-year-old mobile app developer was arrested on Saturday for allegedly forging the signature of Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty to rope in Telugu actor Vijay Devarakonda as an app’s ambassador.

The arrest of Laveti Sai Krishna alias Krishna ML, a resident of Hyderabad, comes a year after the case was registered. Jayanagar police registered a case against Krishna on February 26, 2019 based on a complaint filed by Lt Col (retd) M Ramesh, representative of Infosys Foundation. The complaint was filed after the forged letter didn’t reach Devarakonda and came back to Infosys Foundation instead.

App developer is a B.Pharma holder

“We conducted an investigation and traced the app designer. We caught him and based on information provided by him, we learnt that Krishna was the brain behind the forged signature,” a senior police officer said.

Krishna confessed that he developed a mobile app — ‘Offer nearby’ — and planned to launch it in a big way. He wanted Telugu actor Vijay Devarakonda to be the app’s brand ambassador and tried contacting him. Krishna, however, was unable to meet Vijay.

Krishna then thought he could easily reach the actor if he sent a recommendation letter in the name of Sudha Murty.

“He forged the letterhead of Infosys Foundation and Sudha Murty’s signature. We are verifying his antecedents to know if he committed any other offence earlier,” said Rohini Sepat-Katoch, DCP (south). Rohini said Krishna is a B.Pharma holder and worked with an advertisement firm. Later, he planned to develop an app that provides details of offers for retail customers. He floated Laveti Technologies, and with help from a friend, developed ‘Offer nearby’.

As per the complaint, Krishna created a fake letterhead in the name of Sudha Murty and wrote to Devarakonda, asking him to become the brand ambassador/ partner for his mobile app. Krishna sent it through SpeedPost mentioning the sender’s address as Infosys Foundation. Krishna’s game was up when the letter, which wasn’t delivered to Devarakonda, came back to Infosys Foundation.

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News Network
January 25,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 25: To address the grievances of the Industrialists, over the issue of acquisition of land, the state government have plans to dilute the Land Reforms Act, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, said here on Saturday.

Speaking to the media here, on his visit to the World Economic Forum, Davos, recently he said that 'the visit was fruitful and ends with satisfactory note by procuring promises from several Industrial houses to investment in Karnataka'.

Stating that during his five-day stay at Davos, he had met several Industries heads on the sidelines of the summit, and had an interactive meeting with them, Chief Minister said that 'the event had helped us to present our state Karnataka, to convince them about the prevailing industry-friendly environment'.

He said that he had met several heads of global companies, including Arcelor Mittal, Kirloskar, MAHINDRA, Bharat Forge, 2000 Watt, general electrical, Dassault, Dalmia, Lulu Group, Volvo, Nova Nosdik and Domeco.

'The interaction with the corporate heads was encouraging and more investment is expected to flow into Karnataka, in the fields of Mining, Power, Agriculture, Pharma, Education, and Industries.'

Informing that the main grouse expressed by the Industrialists about the bottlenecks being faced in the Land Reforms Act to procure land, he said that 'To make ease of conversion of Agricultural land we have plans to bring amendment and it would be both win-win situation to both Farmers as well as Industries.'

'We have promised them to remove all hurdles, which comes in the way of acquiring land to set up industries, and we have promised to rectify all the administrative problems within a month or two and legal problems in the next couple of months by amending existing laws.'

'We have also plans to present a new Industrial policy in the coming budget and roll out a comprehensive and investor-friendly law', he further said.

Replying to questions, Chief Minister said that 'all those investment proposals which got clearance at the High-Level Clearance Committee would automatically considered as ‘deemed permission’ and start the process of acquisition of land'.

'TheWorldEconomic Forum Summit had also served us as a platform to invite Industrialists to take part in the Karnataka Global Investors Meet scheduled to be held in November this year', he added.

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News Network
February 24,2020

Lucknow, Feb 24: The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board on Monday accepted the five acres of land provided for construction of the mosque in Ayodhya.

The Board also decided to form a trust to oversee the construction of the mosque.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the Board's Chairman Zufar Faruqui.

Apart from this, the trust will also construct a charitable hospital, public library and a centre showcasing the heritage of Indo-Islamic civilisation which will also serve as a research and study centre for the same, according to a press release by the board.

The appointment of members to the trust will be announced following its creation, the release added.

The Supreme Court had on November 9 last year directed the Central government to hand over the disputed site at Ayodhya for the construction of a temple and set up a trust for the same.

The apex court had further directed the government to allocate an alternative five acres of land at a prominent location in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque to the Sunni Waqf Board.

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