Who is Shama Parveen, the Al Qaeda operative arrested in Bengaluru?

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on Tuesday arrested a 33-year-old woman from Bengaluru for her alleged links with the Al Qaeda terrorist organisation.

 

The arrested individual has been identified as Shama Parveen, a native of Jharkhand. She was living with her brother, a software engineer, in the Manorayanapalya locality of the city.

 

According to police sources, Shama is a graduate who came to Bengaluru three years ago. She is accused of openly supporting terrorist ideology on social media, mainly on Instagram, and encouraging youth to join militancy.

 

The accused has been taken to Gujarat after the ATS obtained a transit warrant from a Bengaluru court.

 

Following the development, intelligence vigilance has been heightened across the city, reported the IANS news agency.

 

Shama's arrest followed the detention of three individuals allegedly linked to the case, Gujarat ATS Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sunil Joshi said.

 

Earlier, on July 23, the ATS had arrested four persons with alleged links to Al Qaeda in Indian Sub Continent (AQIS). Those arrested have been identified as Mohd Faiq from Delhi, Mohd Fardeen from Ahmedabad, Sefullah Kureshi from Modasa in Aravalli, and Zeeshan Ali from Noida.

 

They were under surveillance for activities suspected to be connected to AQIS, Joshi said, adding that the operation was conducted based on specific intelligence inputs and coordinated surveillance.

 

Confirming the latest arrest, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi said Parveen was running an online terror module and had links to Pakistani contacts.

 

"Gujarat ATS had arrested four AQIS terrorists earlier. Yesterday, a woman from Bengaluru was arrested. She is highly radicalised and ran an online terror module. Important Pakistani contacts have been recovered from her electronic devices,” he told reporters.

India