New Delhi: Shehzad Bhatti has emerged as the Inter-Services Intelligence’s latest operative tasked with carrying out a large-scale recruitment drive in India aimed at fuelling terrorism.
Once known as a social media influencer, Bhatti was recruited by the Pakistani spy agency to enlist Indian youth for activities ranging from drug smuggling and targeted killings to collecting sensitive information. Intelligence inputs indicate that he has been running this recruitment network in India for several months.
Bhatti follows a shifting recruitment strategy to evade scrutiny. He focuses on one state at a time and, as soon as security agencies begin closing in on his network, shifts operations elsewhere. A few months ago, his recruitment drive was centred in Uttar Pradesh. After intelligence agencies picked up the trail, he moved his operations to Maharashtra.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the Bhatti’s network, which is backed by ISI, has a distinct way of functioning. “They are not indulging in pan-India recruitments. They are targeting youth from one state at a time, and this helps them evade the security agencies,” the official said.
After being recruited by the ISI, Bhatti was tasked with targeting youth in North Indian states for recruitment. Over the past six months, he reached out to young people across the region and allegedly enlisted them for a range of activities, luring many with payments as low as Rs 5,000.
Despite the meagre payments, those recruited were expected to carry out significant assignments. The recruitment pattern differed from that of traditional terror outfits.
Officials say that the network deliberately avoided telling recruits they could eventually be used for terror-related activities, fearing such disclosures would drive them away. Instead, Bhatti’s operatives allegedly targeted unemployed youth, luring them with offers of easy money in return for carrying out assigned tasks.
“The tasks that were assigned initially required the recruits to smuggle narcotics in smaller quantities. They were also told to gather information about sensitive locations. These tasks do not appear risky when compared to being told to carry out a terror attack,” the official said.
The youth too did not find the task too daunting and would readily agree to undertake the same even for a small amount of money, the official added.
Another official said Bhatti’s strategy was to recruit young men first and then assign them relatively minor tasks. If they completed these assignments without attracting the attention of security agencies, they would be offered higher payments and gradually entrusted with more serious operations, including terror-related activities, the official alleged.
He was in the process of creating a massive module comprising youth across the country and having them execute tasks at his beck and call, the official said. When Bhatti carried out his recruitment drive in North India, his targets were mainly people who needed money.
Investigators say Bhatti’s recruitment drive in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana focused on low-income individuals, including biryani sellers, small-time moneylenders and vegetable vendors. They were initially assigned seemingly minor tasks such as smuggling small firearms and marijuana. Officials believe these assignments were designed to test their reliability, build confidence and prepare them for more serious operations at a later stage.
Officials say that Bhatti has a pan-India plan. In Maharashtra, there are over 100 youth who are under the scanner of the security agencies. The investigation that is being conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) reveals a much larger plan that Bhatti has set in motion.
The Maharashtra ATS has learnt that Bhatti and his associates were expanding their network by using an online outreach programme, financial inducements and propaganda.
Officials say many of those recruited were drawn in by the promise of easy money. According to investigators, Bhatti and his associates have prepared recruitment networks across multiple states. Whenever security agencies intensify surveillance and begin dismantling his operations in one state, he is said to shift his focus to another, constantly changing locations in an effort to stay ahead of law enforcement.
Officials say dismantling this network presents a major challenge for security agencies. According to investigators, Bhatti is expected to continue the recruitment drive until he succeeds in establishing extensive modules across multiple states, creating a wider network capable of supporting terror-related activities.
