Daily Times

KARACHI: In an early morning operation, a law enforcement team arrested an operative of the Islamic Sate of Iraq and Shaam (ISIS) who was apparently looking after the terrorist outfit’s social media operations in Pakistan.

The suspect identified as Imran alias Saif-ul-Islam al-Khilafati was an absconder in a case registered against him.

The Counter-Terrorism Wing (CTW) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested him in a raid at the coastal area of Karachi’s Shirin Jinnah Colony by tracking down his cell phone’s location.

The CTW claims that al-Khilafati and his accomplice Khalil-ur-Rehman had developed and managed more than 100 social media pages for the terrorist groups where through which they were carrying out recruitment activities.

A Daesh flag, a laptop, internet devices, and mobile phones were recovered during the raid.

We are still investigating how a matric pass out normal person got radicalised,” FIA investigators say

“The initial investigation reveals that the ISIS is carrying out its social media campaigns through a communications app called Telegram,” an investigator privy to details of the arrest told Daily Times.

“Telegram is more secure than other popular social media apps like WhatsApp. The user’s identity, cell phone number and location cannot be traced with Telegram,” he said.

Earlier, on September 28, 2017, a FIA team had discovered 51 web pages maintained by al-Khilafati and Khalil-ur-Rehman. The pages carried recruitment content, specifically targeting young people including women. Khalil-ur-Rehman was subsequently arrested from the Cantonment Railway Station.

FIA investigations showed that al-Khilafati hailed from Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa but was settled in Karachi. Rehman was a resident of Khairpur Meeras, a small town of interior Sindh.

CTW officials said that al-Khilafati had left school after 10th grade and from then onwards he got involved in activities of the terrorist organisation. “Our intelligence suggests that he planning to soon leave the country to join ISIS central leadership in Middle East. Thankfully, we were able to track him down using information extracted from his accomplice [Khalil-ur-Rehman],” they said.

Rehman is father of four children, his wife and mother still live in the small town of interior Sind. “We are still investigating how a matric pass out normal person got radicalised,” they added.

The FIA team has broadened the investigation into recovered web pages and social media accounts to obtain clues about radical elements and links within the ISIS and the banned TTP.

On Tuesday, the suspect was presented before a magistrate at the city court. The FIA requested for a 14-day physical remand, but the court granted approval for a two-day remand only.

The investigation officer informed the court that the FIA will submit a final charge-sheet in the case after a forensic report was available.

Published in Daily Times, March 7^th 2018.