AHMEDABAD: As part of the ongoing anti-terror operation, the Gujarat ATS on Wednesday arrested a 33-year-old Jharkhand-native woman from Bengaluru for her alleged role in bolstering Al Qaeda's influence in India. The accused, Shama Parveen, is believed to have been integral to AQIS’s social media propaganda machinery.
The ATS collaborated with Bengaluru police to identify and locate Parveen. A joint team conducted a raid at Parveen’s residence in Manorayanapalya locality and arrested her. Parveen is a graduate degree holder and had been living in Bengaluru for three years with her brother, who is a software engineer.
Sources said that the Gujarat ATS, while interrogating four previously arrested Al Qaeda operatives, were informed of Parveen's link to the terror organisation.
Parveen allegedly shared extremist videos linked to Al Qaeda operatives on social media platforms, especially Instagram.
Acting swiftly, the joint team raided her home and seized multiple digital devices from her home, now under forensic examination.
Following her arrest, Parveen was produced before a local magistrate and granted a transit warrant for her transfer to Gujarat, where she will face further questioning and legal action under anti-terror laws.
This high-profile arrest has reignited concerns about growing terror footprints in Karnataka. It follows last year’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) capture of Aziz Ahamad a Hizb-ut-Tahrir suspect from Bengaluru airport, pointing to a pattern of sleeper cell activity in the region.
In the wake of the arrest, security has been ramped up across Bengaluru, with intelligence agencies remaining on high alert to thwart any potential retaliatory or connected moves by extremist elements.