Surveillance on 350 Female MNC Staff as ISIS Targets Women Employees

Sources privy to the development said these women, handling sensitive roles in the security architecture of multinational companies, are being targeted by international terror outfits like ISIS with the ulterior motive of exploiting them for future sinister plots.

A banned terror outfit from Kerala has reached out to these women under the guise of similar jobs or being employed by such companies. They have also taken accommodations in proximity to their residences, the sources said.

The Kerala-based terror group, which subsequently shifted its headquarters to Shaheen Bagh in the national capital over a decade ago, has planted its handlers to tap female employees who might be oblivious to the insidious terror tactic.

While the activities of the local terror outfit were first noticed by the agencies about six months ago, the surveillance net was cast about two months ago.

The women being targeted by the terror groups are mostly employed in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Besides surveillance, the agencies are also investigating their family backgrounds to enlist support in persuading the women from going astray.

ISIS is estimated to have targeted the Indian diaspora in West Asia, who in turn identified gullible women professionals back home to enlist them for their insidious agenda.

These women could be used to cause major operational disruptions in the MNCs, potentially affecting consumer interests and damaging India's brand image.

Through surveillance, the agencies aim to unravel the larger network of terror groups and their expansive footprint to secure national interests, the sources said.

While ISIS has no intention of holding territory in India, they aim to recruit cadres to further the “Jihadi” agenda in the outfit’s theaters of influence.

Without divulging specifics, a source in the Delhi police said, “We do keep a watch on such suspects through technical and human means when we get specific leads.”

What has worried the agencies is that technically proficient youths have joined ISIS ranks. The recent conviction of a professionally qualified Kashmiri couple, the husband being an engineering graduate with an MBA and the wife having an IT background, who joined ISIS and were recently convicted in a terror case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), highlights this trend.

The Kashmiri couple was linked to the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a front group of ISIS, despite holding degrees like B.Tech and MBA. Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife, Hina Bashir Beigh, moved to the national capital in 2019 from Jammu and Kashmir. Jahanzaib was employed at a United Kingdom-based company, and his spouse had a bachelor’s degree in computer applications with an MBA. She served at some banks before taking a break for her wedding on October 6, 2019, when Srinagar was still under lockdown after Article 370 was repealed by the Centre on August 5 that year.
The couple was convicted on terror charges on May 6 in the 2020 case originally registered by the special cell of the Delhi police and subsequently taken over by the NIA.

The couple was convicted on terror charges on May 6 in the 2020 case originally registered by the special cell of the Delhi police and subsequently taken over by the NIA.