Basith was planning lone wolf attacks

HYDERABAD: Abdullah Basith, convicted for his association with the Islamic State (IS) and sentenced to five years in jail, was planning to carry out lone-wolf attacks on security agencies and RSS members, according to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He was aiming for a deadly attack like the one the CRPF convoy at Pulwama in February 2019, which claimed the lives of more than 40 personnel. He was also in the process of procuring a vehicle with the help of his foreign handlers to carry out the attacks. Basith was the brain behind ’Voice of Hind’, the IS’s propaganda magazine circulated digitally, the NIA said.

Prior to his arrest in 2018, Basith was caught twice indulging in terror activities. In 2014, Basith and his friends were detained at Malda in West Bengal when they were about to cross over to Bangladesh on their way to Afghanistan. In 2015, he was detained at the Nagpur airport, when he was about to take a flight to Srinagar and cross the border to go to Syria.

Basith also tried to purchase an AK-47 rifle through a Kashmiri youth, but could not succeed, as the suppliers landed in Delhi police net. After their arrest, Basith tried to join ISJK (Islamic State of Jammu & Kashmir) in Kashmir, but his handlers directed him to go to Delhi and also assured him weapons to carry out attacks to avenge the persecution of Muslims in India.

Basith’s aim was to target government employees, security forces, agencies and RSS persons and was planning to attack them with knives if the plans of attacking with an explosive-laden vehicle did not work out.