KOCHI: THE National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the premier anti-terror wing, will no longer have to rely on translators to cipher the messages of jihadi groups as part of the probe. Reason: The Arabic classes the NIA officers took from professors of the Maharaja’s College.
The Arabic department professors of the college took classes for around 20 NIA officers at Kochi during this year’s vacation. “Altogether 60 hours of classes were taken for the officers. The classes, held at the NIA office at Kadavanthra, concluded last month. The officers were taught to communicate and read documents in Arabic,” said N L Beena, principal, Maharaja’s College.
Earlier, the NIA officers, who often get several documents in Arabic, used to depend on professors of the college to translate Arabic documents as part of the investigation process. “Now, the NIA officers can translate and communicate in Arabic without outside help. However, we are ready to help them by providing classes and translating documents again,” Beena said.
“IS modules widely use Arabic to communicate with each other. We had received many Arabic documents used by IS members as part of their online propaganda activities.
“The IS members who were nabbed from Kanakamala used to communicate in Arabic. They were also sending video/audio content in Arabic,” an NIA officer said.
“More officers will be trained in Arabic. Classes will also be held to equip them to read/write Urdu as well,” he said.