Britain’s Channel 4 is credited in this report with revealing this man’s identity, but it didn’t actually name him. In any case, here is yet another blow for the common assumption that poverty causes terrorism and will be cured by transfers of money to populations likely to produce terrorists: Mehdi Masroor Biswas was a prosperous manufacturing executive. He didn’t align with the Islamic State because of rage over poverty. He aligned with them because he believed in their understanding of Islam. But no authorities are willing to address that phenomenon.
“Bangalore Police arrest pro-jihad Twitter handle user Mehdi Biswas, book him under Unlawful Activities Act,” Indian Express, December 13, 2014:
Though never directly associated with the Islamic State terrorist outfit, a 24-year-old manufacturing executive at an Indian conglomerate, Mehdi Masroor Biswas, accumulated knowledge regarding the outfit by spending hours aggregating data regarding radical Islamic activities in the middle east to disseminate information on his @shamiwitness Twitter account, Bangalore police commissioner M N Reddi said following the arrest of the youth on Saturday.
Mehdi Masroor Biswas had been outed as the Bangalore-based individual behind the pro-Islamic State Twitter account @shamiwitness by UK’s Channel 4 on Friday.
Multiple agencies began efforts to locate Mehdi on Friday and he was arrested from a single room apartment in North Bangalore in the early hours of Saturday. Mehdi has confessed to being the person behind the @shamiwitness Twitter account police commissioner Reddi said.
Two mobile phones and a laptop were seized from Mehdi’s residence and efforts are on to obtain the computer log to verify the electronic links between Mehdi and the @shamiwitness Twitter account. Police are seeking the co-operation of Twitter to obtain the logs of the account to produce as independent proof to link Mehdi with the pro-IS Twitter account, the police commissioner said.
Mehdi had been booked under the Indian Penal Code’s section 125 which defines “waging war against any Asiatic Power in alliance with the Government of India” as an offence with a maximum punishment of seven years imprisonment and a fine. The same section of law has been invoked by the NIA while booking Mumbai youth Arif Majid who recently returned to India after being associated with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq for a period of around four months.
Mehdi has also been booked under section 39 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 2004 for supporting a terrorist organization and section 66 of the Information Technology Act 2000 for computer-related offences.
Police sources involved with the interrogation of Mehdi described his as being “very emotionally invested in the cause of Islam”.
“The @shamiwitness account seemed to have become his main cause in life. He was so consumed by it that he did not have much of a life beyond his work and the Internet. He was however probably only a major sympathiser of the Islamic State and did not take any concrete measures to join the outfit,” sources involved with the interrogation of Mehdi said.
According to Bangalore police commissioner M N Reddi, Mehdi “was not directly involved with the Islamic State but he was also not a mere sympathiser”.
“He operated exclusively on the Internet. He was not linked to Indian terrorist activities,” Reddi said.
Mehdi who came to Bangalore from West Bengal in 2012 to work as a manufacturing executive in ITC Foods earning Rs 5.3 lakh per annum, spent hours on the Internet looking at information on jihadi activities in the middle east. He aggregated information put out in Arabic and translated them to English by using online translation tools before tweeting this information in English. He also tweeted his own interpretations of events and situations, commissioner Reddi said.He got interested in the Levant or Sham region in the middle east consisting of countries like Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, from 2009. He used to work in his office during the day and would be active on Internet late into the night. He took a 60 GB monthly internet connection and used to read all breaking news websites related to the Islamic State,” the police commissioner said.
“He got interested in the Levant or Sham region in the middle east consisting of countries like Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, from 2009. He used to work in his office during the day and would be active on Internet late into the night. He took a 60 GB monthly internet connection and used to read all breaking news websites related to the Islamic State,” the police commissioner said.
“He was particularly close to English-speaking terrorists of ISIS and became a source of incitement and information for the new recruits trying to join ISIS. Through his social media propaganda he abetted ISIS in its agenda to wage war against the Asiatic powers,” police said. Mehdi was so attached to the cause of radical Islam that he did not have a social life or a girlfriend, police said.
“He was careful in hiding his true identity and was confident that it will never get revealed. His identity was exposed by Channel 4 and inputs were passed on to Indian agencies,” he said….
particolor says
See what playing with Fire gets You ?? Burnies !!
Angemon says
>blockquote>Police sources involved with the interrogation of Mehdi described his as being “very emotionally invested in the cause of Islam”.
Eh. “Islam”, not “radical islam”, “fundamental islam” or “extremist islam”. For once they got it right.
mortimer says
Yes. The ’emotion’ of SADISTIC VOYEURISM!
He loves to watch! Torture! Beheadings! Merciless murder.
And now he wants MERCY!
particolor says
MERCY is in the Dictionary between Mercenary and Meretricious !!
zebo says
Well,the police source was an indian source without western abandoning free speech called political correctness.
That’s why they got it right.
Charli Main says
This man is an Indian national but he is NOT Hindu, Christian or Buddhist
He is a MUSLIM doing what Muslims are brainwashed to do from around 3 upwards.
supporting or waging Jihad against all non Muslims, including his countrymen.
Coolio says
Hold jihadist thugs like this man in Prisoner of War camps until Islam is destroyed
mortimer says
He begged his identity not be revealed because his life would be at risk, but he cared not at all for the worthless lives of VICTIMS OF JIHAD…the dirty kafirs!
There is no Golden Rule in this heartless, braindead DEATH CULT!
Steffen Larsen says
“His identity was exposed by Channel 4”
This reeminds me a little too much of the Swedish newspaper Expressen joining forces with hackers in order to expose people who thought they could critisize immigration anonymously.
mortimer says
Steff,
The Swedes are committing national suicide…they are using immigration to destroy ‘Swedishness’.
Mehdi Biswas on the other hand is promoting enslavement of women and genocide of ‘others’.
I’m sure you agree…the goals are apples and oranges!
duh_swami says
I’m sorry, I tried to work up some sympathy for him, but just couldn’t do it.
After all he is a victim of ‘radical Islam’, and we all know how tough that is.
But he volunteered for the duty, and now he wants sympathy?
No way Abu…you danced, and now you must pay the fiddler…
King Dave says
Violent Islamic militant groups are not the result of poverty and oppression….
They are the cause of it!
Lookmann says
Now IS vows to free him.
“Bengaluru ruthless Police arrest brother Mehdi Masroor Biswas as owner of @ShamiWitness twitter acc,” wrote IS Tweeter handle, @IS_WorldPress, drawing immediate response from the group’s supporters across the world to free him at any cost.
“We all miss #ShamiWitness twitter isnt the same without his news,” tweeted JanissaryFighter (?@SaifAlRasheed97).
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/is-top-tweeter-mehdi-held-group-vows-to-free-him/article1-1296237.aspx
particolor says
If its anything like Australia there, He will have His hand Smacked and told to Behave Himself !! Then He will Sue them for Police Brutality and receive a Huge Payment which He will forward to ISIS !! Yep !!
Jay Boo says
Muslims despise life.
Therefore Muslims despise God the creator.
Muslims despise Christians.
Christians speak of Jesus Christ who was sinless.
— Muslims resent this.
Christians speak of Jesus’ divinity.
— Muslims become furious at this.
Muslims cannot say Muhammad was sinless nor attempt to claim divinity of Muhammad.
Muslims know how shallow Muhammad’s life was.
Muslims must now pray five fives a day to overcompensate for Muhammad sinful life of emptiness.
Jay Boo says
Muslim trolls never challenge me when I make these kind of comments.
They realize that it will not be a fair fight.
Champ says
True, Jay Boo …
And they also hate any mention of the cross ✞: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. — 1 Corinthians 1:18
Quest108 says
Nearly 25,000 TERROR ATTACKS all over the world since 9/11 by the followers of the SATANIC CULT aka The religion of peace.
The main doctrines of this CULT are INFIDEL (RAPE + MURDER + PLUNDER) & LIES.
Rajivi says
The Police officer who arrested the ISIS twitter a/c handle, got a threatening tweet from @bbooeee ” if they won’t release him, we swear by Allah, they will see Hindus slaughtered live..Do not harm any Muslim’ This twitter handle @bbooeee belongs to Islamic state Khalifa.
joey says
They execute our journalists, we execute theirs. Send this pathetic creature to the gallows and upload the video to youtube. Let this be a lesson to his kind that there are consequences to criminal activity.