Inter-state police coordination curbing Islamic State proliferation

The latest series of arrests of suspected Islamic State sympathisers from various parts of the country points to the increasing cooperation among police forces in states to tackle any possible spread of the outfit.
This is the second time in two months that police forces in several states came together to bust a suspected terror module inspired by the dreaded Islamic State (IS).

In a coordinated action, raids were carried out jointly by Anti-Terrorism Squads of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, Delhi Police's Special Cell and police of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar, resulting in the arrest of at least three persons on Thursday. The raids were carried out in Mumbra (Maharashtra), Jalandhar (Punjab), Narkatiaganj (Bihar), Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar (both in Uttar Pradesh).

Sources said the elite anti-terror forces and state police forces are in constant touch and sharing information about the movement of youth suspected to be inspired by the IS ideology. The central intelligence agencies are also monitoring the activities of scores of youth whose internet activities have been found suspicious.

The police forces in Uttar Pradesh in March managed to bust the IS-inspired module allegedly involved in the Bhopal-Ujjain train blast with the help of inputs provided by southern states, especially Telangana Police.
The interception of the online chatter between suspected IS terrorists about their operation led to the arrest of three of them and the killing of another, Saifullah, in Lucknow.

The arrests in the train blast case came as police forces in Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are coordinating regularly. They also share information on youth who left to join the IS from their states.

According to government statistics provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in Parliament on March 15, there are 75 people, including nine from Karnataka, who were arrested for their suspected links with the IS.

Among the 75 people arrested, Kerala tops the list with 21 followed by Telangana 16 and Karnataka have nine arrested. Eight persons were arrested in Maharashtra while six were apprehended in Madhya Pradesh and four each in Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. Two persons were arrested in Rajasthan while one each were caught fromJammu and Kashmir and West Bengal.

In his written reply, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said a few educated youth got attracted to the IS ideology through social media. He also said a few incidents of the unfurling of flags of the IS by "some misguided" youth were noticed on different occasions in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past.