Islamic State module busted by NIA relied on safer Trillian messenger for communication

NEW DELHI: The pan-India Islamic State (IS) module busted by the National Investigation Agency with the arrest of 14 persons was using a messenger application ' Trillian' for communication and planning of attacks, officials said.

The accused persons were instructed by Syria-based IS recruiter Shafi Armar alias Yousuf to download this application as it has an extra layer of encryption that makes it difficult for the agencies to decode, according to investigators.

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A native of Bhatkal, Armar said that he migrated to Syria and is presently associated with IS. He also told Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh, the self-styled commander of IS in India that he first fled to Afghanistan from Pakistan and later migrated to Syria after proclaiming allegiance to caliphate of Abu Bakhr-al Baghdadi. Armar and his elder brother Maulana Sultan Armar floated Ansar-ul-Tawhid (AUT) after they moved to Afghanistan. Sultan was reportedly killed in Afghanistan last year while fighting with security forces.

Armar also directed the module to create multiple email identities which were then used for chat on the ‘Trillian’ application. The interrogation of the arrested suspect also revealed that they were instructed by Armar and others based in Syria to avoid using Facebook or WhatsApp messenger as the chances of their communication getting intercepted by agencies was very high.