IS using social media to lure youth, says top cop

Hyderabad: The case of Afsha Jabeen, who was arrested for allegedly recruiting on behalf of ISIS, was an example of social media being used for radicalisation, a police official said here on Wednesday.

“The case of ‘Nicky Joseph’ is a classic example of social media being used for radicalisation and criminalisation,” Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma said, adding she would find out those who responded to ISIS ideology online and tried to convert them.

Afsha alias Nicky Joseph, (37), who hails from Tolichowki area in Hyderabad, had portrayed herself as a UK national while luring youth for ISIS through social media. She was deported by the UAE, after which she was arrested here on September 11 and is presently in police custody.

Jabeen was tracked in Abu Dhabi and after initial questioning, she was deported to Hyderabad where sleuths took her to custody at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport. According to the Cyberabad police, she is a co-accused in the case involving Salman Mohiuddin, an engineering graduate who is also from Hyderabad.

Mohiuddin was arrested in January this year at the airport when he was preparing to board a flight to Dubai on his way to Syria via Turkey to allegedly join ISIS. After his arrest, Afsha came under the lens of Indian security agencies since Salman confessed to have opened several Facebook accounts along with one Nicky Joseph.

He had said that she had influenced him and invited him to join her in Dubai in order to go to Syria. Both of them allegedly indoctrinated and motivated several youth through social media to support ISIS, the police had said.

Earlier in the day, the DGP launched a Social Media Management Centre at the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate which maintains Facebook and Twitter accounts of Cyberabad Police for public relations.

“It is a tool to help us bring change and awareness, as well as understand what the public thinks. If any miscreant tries to create problems on the web, we would definitely like to know about it and see what action can be taken,” Sharma said.

“We would like to enhance our own capabilities so that we are not at a loss while dealing with such cases (involving cyber offenders). Patrolling, monitoring and checking will go on. The way technology is developing, I think it is time for us to be technology savvy,” the Telangana police chief said.

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