Bengaluru Church Street blast accused identifies himself in video

Bengaluru: The alleged Church Street blast prime accused Rafeeq alias Alam Jeb Afridi alias Jaweed, who was arrested last month from the City by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reportedly identified himself in the video grab, which was released by the agency days before his arrest for identification of the suspected youth in the video footage, official sources told this newspaper.

“Afridi has confessed that he was behind making and planting of the improvised explosive device (IED) on Church Street on the behest of his remote handler using the online site - ‘Justpaste.it.’ He had learnt to make the IED from the online site and sourced the material from the City,” said an official source.

Daesh sympathiser
He added that Afridi was also in touch with the Daesh sympathizer Mohammed Nafees Khan (24) from Hyderabad, who was reportedly motivated by Armar Shafi alias ‘Gumnam of Syria’ using ‘Justpaste.it.

“We suspect that Shafi was also behind the Church Street blast and had motivated Afridi to execute the terror attack. Afridi and Nafees, who is allegedly the ‘head of finance’ of Daesh-inspired ‘Janood-ul-khalifa-al-Hind’ were planning to go to Syria to join Daesh,” added the officer. Nafees was arrested by the NIA last month from Hyderabad along with 13 other alleged Daesh sympathizers from across India. Afridi, who is reportedly involved in terror cases in Ahmedabad had come to Bengaluru in 2010 and was working as a mechanic for air conditioners.
“He was living under the alias of Rafeeq and had even managed to get his Aadhar card under his alias. He was recently married,” the officer added.

‘Justpaste.it’
‘Justpaste.it’ is a discreet online site, which allows its users to paste text (including HTML) and images and distribute the resulting links to their contacts. The site came under severe controversy after Daesh supporters began using it to disseminate information among the neo jehadis.

Did Shafi motivate him?
Did Shafi Armar alias ‘Gumnam of Syria,’ the alleged fugitive terror suspect from Bhatkal, who is now reportedly the chief propagandist of Daesh – the banned global jehadi organisation radicalise and motivate Rafeeq alias Alam Jeb Afridi – the man behind the December 28, 2014 Church Street blast to plant the improvised explosive device, which claimed one life and injured several others in Bengaluru?