Terror group using dark web to communicate in Assam: Police

The Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a global terror group, was using the dark web for peer-to-peer communication within its network to further its activities in Assam, the police said.

Thus, it was taking them more than the usual time to unearth the network’s modus operandi.

The revelation came consequent to the arrest of a 22-year-old woman from western Assam’s Dhubri district, the police said. The woman, Jahura Khatun, is the wife of Abu Taleb, a member of the ABT, who was absconding since the police launched a crackdown against the group’s terror modules. Khatun was arrested on Sunday from the Naeragla Part II village of Dhubri, which shares a border with Bangladesh.

Read | Assam to identify 'push factors' aiding fundamentalist terror groups

“The two mobile phones we recovered from Jahura revealed that they (ABT) were using sophisticated software for peer-to-peer communication, where messages are encrypted. Such applications are either specially made or purchased using the dark web. So, we suspect that they might have cyber experts who can help them use the dark web. We have engaged cyber experts to examine the mobile phones and other digital devices to unearth more details about their communication system,” Gaurav Abhijit Dilip told reporters in Dhubri on Monday.

The dark web, a specialised portion of the world wide web, can only be accessed through special software which helps the users remain unknown and untraceable, which makes it difficult for the law enforcement agencies to find them and detect any nefarious activities planned over the dark web.

The police in Assam arrested at least 31 persons, including a Bangladeshi national, since it launched in March the drive to curb terror in the state.

Five other Bangladeshi nationals, who were allegedly involved in indoctrinating local Muslim men to carry out “jihad” in Assam were on the run, the police said.