Pakistan-based terrorist outfits on a recruitment spree, NIA alerts states

"Once they feel that a particular individual can easily be lured, they establish other channels like getting in touch with them through local members and induct them into their organization," the official said. On many occasions, many of the well educated youths fall prey to the brainwashing attempts of these terrorist organizations, the officials said.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday claimed that the Pakistan-based terrorist organizations - mainly Lashkar e Toiba (LeT), Harkat ul Mujahedeen (HuM), and Hizb-ut-Tahrir(HuT) - are trying to recruit gullible youths from the minority communities in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Disclosing this exclusively to ETV Bharat, a senior official from NIA headquarters in New Delhi said that the agency has alerted all its branches regarding this matter.

"We have asked all our officials to keep a close watch on all suspicious movements in these states," the official said. Earlier on Thursday, the NIA had arrested a key conspirator, involved in recruiting youths for HuT, an offshoot of ISIS from Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. "His interrogation has revealed that HuT as well as other Pakistan-based terrorist organizations have been trying to recruit the gullible youth from the minority community after doing a massive brainwash," the official said.

Significantly, the NIA has also pointed out several key locations in the three South Indian states following reports of a massive recruitment drive. When asked about the modus operandi of such a recruitment drive of the terrorist organizations, the NIA official said that they (members of the terrorist organization) try to reach such vulnerable people through Facebook, Instagram, and other social media networks.

"Once they feel that a particular individual can easily be lured, they establish other channels like getting in touch with them through local members and induct them into their organization," the official said. On many occasions, many of the well-educated youths fall prey to the brainwashing attempts of these terrorist organizations, the officials said.

In the recent past, NIA in coordination with Kashmir police and CRPF conducted raids in multiple locations in Kashmir valley in case of radicalizing, motivating, and recruiting youths. In January this year, the NIA had filed a chargesheet against eight ISIS terrorists in Kerala in connection with the recruitment drive.