ISIS eyeing techies from India: Intel

New Delhi, May 7

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The global terror outfit, the ISIS, has been on a recruitment spree to induct gullible young techies from India, particularly from Karnataka and Rajasthan, intelligence agencies have alerted the Centre.

As part of the terror outfit’s larger plan to expand its network in India, particularly after the Popular Front of India was banned, intelligence sources said there had been a steady increase in the number of radicalised youth who joined the ISIS.

A source in the security establishment said, “In December 2022, we received an intelligence input that 21 radicalised youths joined the ISIS. The number rose in the subsequent months. In January, 28 youths having a technical background joined the ISIS, while 37 joined in February and 36 in March.”

The ISIS has been recruiting the youth through online mode and enrolled them for radicalisation and terror training on “the Dark Web Academy” set up by the outfit, the sources said.

The sources said a group, “The Transparent Tribe”, gathers data from universities by hacking and indulging in online theft. In September and October last year, it had gathered data of about 100 universities from India.

Subsequently, “The Transparent Tribe” provides terror groups, including the ISIS, with the data. After getting the data, the ISIS contacts the Indian youths through various social media platforms and rope them in for an online radicalisation programme, they said.