After IM, Bhatkal Now Recruiting Ground For ISIS

Intelligence agencies say Shafi Armar, the main recruiter of Indians lured to the ISIS ideology, belongs to Bhatkal.

Once known in intelligence circles as the breeding ground of the homegrown Indian Mujahideen (IM) terror outfit, Karnataka’s small coastal town of Bhatkal – a tourist destination with a lot of history – is unfortunately now being seen in the security establishment to be emerging as a possible incubator of ISIS’s Indian terror module following a string of arrests from the town and nearby areas in the southern state.

Shafi Armar, who, intelligence agencies say, is the main recruiter of Indian men lured to the ISIS ideology, also belongs to Bhatkal where he was born and lived with his two brothers, before leaving India in 2009.

Knowledgeable sources said Armar started as a member of the IM before fleeing from India to Pakistan. He later went for training in Syria and is now believed to be a key member of Ansar-ul-Tawhid, a recruiting wing which has pledged allegiance to ISIS.

After Armar, intelligence sources said some more ISIS sympathisers named Suhail Ahmed, Damudi, Mohammed Afzal, Najmul Huda and Muhammad Abdul Ahad – all in NIA custody – have their links with Bhatkal, which is otherwise famous as a tourist destination.

The souces added that all the arrested suspected terrorists having links with Bhatkal were being quizzed to ascertain their role in the module.

Asked if Bhatkal town has become a “breeding ground” for ISIS recruiters, Additional DGP (Internal Security) Karnataka Sunil Kumar in a telephonic interview said, “It’s a matter of investigation.”

We are in constant touch with the NIA. Several people were recently arrested from Mangalore, Tumkur and Bangalore, but their role to recruit new IS members from Bhatkal or other states is a matter of inquiry and it cannot be shared,

Sunil Kumar