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ISIS Twitter account handler arrested: Major lapse in Indian security agencies a huge concern
This incident points out the loopholes and shows that investigative agencies are still not prepare to combat the ISIS threat within the country.
Bengaluru police arrested a city based executive Mehdi Masroor Biswas for allegedly handling pro-ISIS Twitter account. The Police confirmed that Mehdi confessed that he was the operator of the pro-Islamic State Twitter account @ShamiWitness. However, police said that no direct link has been established between @ShamiWitness and Islamic State, National Investigation Agency has been told to investigate the matter. According to the Bengaluru police it looks more like a case of ‘self-radicalisation.’ (Read: Mehdi Masroor Biswas: All you need to know about the alleged ISIS twitter account handler)
The arrest of the pro-ISIS suspect came after a UK based Channel 4 news revealed the key details of the person running the Twitter account including that it was being operated from Bengaluru. Although, the Bengaluru police have detained the man behind the pro-ISIS Twitter account but it should be seen as a major lapse in security measures.
The @ShamiWitness twitter account was created in 2009. Since then, jihadists content has being posted from the account since then. According to the press note released by Bengaluru police, Mehdi was interested in political developments in middle east countries like Gaza strip, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya since 2003. Police also said that he was allegedly in connection with key ISIS figures and UK Jihadists. Most of his followers are Islamic State’s foreign jihadists.
The question here is if the police was aware of Mehdi’s activities then why didn’t it take any action on him? If the account was created in 2009, why the Indian police couldn’t identify the person behind it? The incident raises question over Indian security agencies; how a foreign channel could identify the suspect but not Indian agencies.
After the return of Kalyan youth Arif Majeed who had flown to Iraq to fight with ISIS, Indian investigative agencies should have monitored the activities of such young minds before being radicalised by any medium before they cross the limits.
As per the reports of Channel 4, it had found the man behind the @ShamiWitness account by first finding the name of a former Twitter account he had run, and then using that name to search other social media sites until it found a Facebook page belonging to a man named Mehdi Masroor Biswas.
Why did the Indian agencies could not track such radical account? This incident points out the loopholes and shows that investigative agencies are still not prepare to combat the ISIS threat within the country.
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