Hyderabad: Terror organisations across the world are recruiting persons with extensive criminal background, a report by Global Terror Index said.
A counter intelligence official from Telangana said that they have already alerted the authorities about the threat in the Indian jails. “Already certain counter-terrorism measures are implemented in the prisons in the state. A group of persons involved in certain terror-related cases were shifted to other jails in the state,” the official said.
He added that while those in the terror-related cases are alw-ays under surveillance, others who are radicalised are missed out owing to their previous history.
Mr V. K. Singh, director-general of police, said that those involved in terror-related cases are lodged in separate barracks. “We do not allow them to interact with other prisoners. In the high security barracks, CCTVs are installed to monitor their activities.” About 12 persons are lodged in Hyderabad jails for various terror cases, he added.
Investigations into the 2015 Brussels and the 2016 Paris attacks revealed that the attackers were invol-ved in drug trafficking and organised crime, including forging documents, according to the report.
“In Europe, it was found that 57 per cent of individuals had been in jail prior to becoming radicalised, while 31 per cent of incarcerated individuals began the radicalisation process while in jails,” a report released annually by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace stated.
The ties between criminals and terror groups have been categorised into three types: coexistence —when groups share geographical space, cooperation — when groups are able to serve mutual interests via temporary partnerships and convergence — when groups absorb each other’s methodologies.
The report explained that radicalisation can be the by-product of typical prison behaviour. In a case study of French prisons, radicalisers knock on the doors of vulnerable pe-ople with whom they can develop a emotional relationship to cha-nge their worldview.
