Twitter jehadi Mehdi spills beans, charged with ‘waging war on Asiatic powers'
A “source of incitement” for English-speaking ISIS terrorists and new recruits, Mehdi Masroor Biswas — the handler of the “most influential” pro-ISIS Twitter account who was arrested by the Karnataka Police from his one-room rented apartment here on Saturday — has been charged with “waging a war against Asiatic powers” and unlawful activities.
The 24-year-old engineer, hailing from West Bengal, used to work as a manufacturing executive with ITC Foods during daytime and become active at nights in the virtual world for which he had bought a 60 GB Internet connection on monthly basis to read all breaking news on websites relating to ISIS/ISl. He drew an annual package of Rs 5.30 lakh.
Karnataka DGP l Pachau told reporters that Biswas confessed to handling “for last many years” the pro-jehad handle @ShamiWitness with more than 17,000 followers on the micro-blogging site. Pachau said Biswas used to “ferociously” tweet by aggregating information and closely watching developments of the region.
Biswas was interested in the levantine region, also known as Eastern Mediterranean, consisting of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, lebanon, Palestine, Syria and part of Southern Turkey from 2003 onwards, Pachau said. He had more following in the UK and was an “incitement” for new recruits from that area.
Bangalore Police Commissioner MN Reddi, who too addressed the joint Press conference, said, Biswas did not resist while being arrested under Sec 125 of IPC (whoever wages war against the Government of any Asiatic power in alliance or at peace with the Government of India or attempts to wage such war, or abets the waging of such war), Sections 18 and 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 66 of the Information Technology act.
The police are probing if Biswas had any direct links with ISIS. “After the interrogation for the past few hours, as of now, we also don’t see his involvement in any kind of terrorist activities within the country,” Reddi said. Two mobile phones and a laptop have been seized from him. The Bangalore Police had launched a manhunt for him after Britain’s Channel 4 News revealed ISIS’s Bangalore link saying the man operating the account is called Mehdi and he is an executive in Bangalore working for an Indian conglomerate.
When asked if Biswas had facilitated any recruitment or forced people to join ISIS, Reddi said, “As of now, he has never recruited anybody nor did he facilitate any such activity within India. He has never travelled outside India. He has been in the virtual world. He is supporter of terrorists, supporter of ISIS and one who has incited about it. There is no immediate information about any previous criminal record of Biswas.”
Pachau said through his social media propaganda, Biswas abetted ISIS in its agenda to wage war against Asiatic powers. He said Biswas, who has two elder sisters, was careful in hiding his true identity and was confident that it would never get revealed.
late on Friday, Channel 4 had released Mehdi’s interview in which he said he was ready to surrender but added he feared for his life.