NIA frames training modules for security, Intelligence personnel

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 8

Based on the experiences it gathered in course of investigation into several cases, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has worked out training modules for senior officials of police forces and intelligence agencies to equip them in keeping a tab on terrorists active in the cyber space.

With the training module “Use of Internet by International Terrorists”, the NIA has been holding sessions at its headquarters here and the police and intelligence officials are being taught as to how they could keep an eye on international terrorists who spread terrorism in the country through social media and secret chats.

A senior NIA functionary told The Tribune that the agency has already conducted one such session that was attended by 24 senior police and intelligence personnel.

One of the officials who attended the training session said the NIA trainers taught them through different modules as to how they could foil terrorists’ attempts by using WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and secret chat services. “We were also informed about means to monitor such groups and how to use such information as evidence in the court of law,” the official said.

Terror threat has been looming over India after the recent serial blasts in Sri Lanka. Outfits like ISIS have been using social media platforms and internet to hatch terror plots in different parts of the country.

During investigation into the Pulwama attack, the NIA had discovered that terrorists had used secret chat platforms to execute the plan.

In a recent intelligence report submitted before the Union Home Ministry, the agencies had warned that many radical Islamist groups have been making attempts to increase their presence in several cities. The intelligence inputs are also there with the security establishment as to how terror financing is being done from Gulf countries.