Gulf Countries Hostility towards Indian Intelligence, prevents from busting SIMI Network

Distance lessons in terror
By M P Prashanth @ www.expressbuzz.com

KOZHIKODE: The distance education centres of some universities in Kerala, situated in west Asian countries, have become recruiting centres of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

Sources told Express that some of these centres were managed by C A M Basheer, one of the most wanted terrorists operating from the Gulf countries. He recently shifted his base from Sharjah to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia when the intelligence agencies tracked down his hub. Security agencies suspect that Basheer still frequents the state using a Canadian passport. Sources said the SIMI network was very active in West Asia.

Youngsters who join the distance education institutes are lured into the network. They later become modules of the network which operates in India with the active support of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Harkat- ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI).

It may be recalled that the the email message sent to some media organisations in the state from an obscure outfit called Malabar Mujahid had its origin in Sharjah.

The sender, who introdued himself as the commander of the outfit, threatened to orchestrate blasts in Kerala if the demands of the organisation were not met. Sarfaras Nawas, who was picked up from Muscat for his involvement in the Bangalore blasts, has detailed the working of the SIMI network in the Gulf countries.

It was the Malayali SIMI network in the Gulf that enabled him to contact the Lashkar operatives and seek their help for operations in India.

Security agencies have identified another SIMI activist from the State who is a vital figure in the terror network.

A former student of a private college in Malappuram, he was the one who arranged a meeting of bomb expert E T Sainudheen and Indian Mujahideen leader Riyaz Bhatkal at Kuttippuram in Malappuram. It was after the meeting that Sainudheen made the bombs suspectedly used in the Delhi blasts in 2008. The person believed to have shown the path of jihad to Sainudheen is now operating from Dubai.

The non-cooperation shown by some of the governments in West Asia is proving a major hindrance in busting the SIMI modules there.

Many of the governments are hostile to Indian intelligence agencies, who work through diplomatic channels.

The leaders of the module operate in these countries for years with complete impunity.

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