Hebbal Terror Arrest AQIS Handler Arrested in Bengaluru in Major ATS Operation

Daniel George

Bengaluru

Residents of Manorayanapalya in Hebbal were left stunned late Tuesday night as Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials arrested Shama Parveen, a 30-year-old woman accused of masterminding an Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) module from her Bengaluru home.

DIG Sunil Joshi of Gujarat ATS told CH News, “Parveen's name surfaced during the interrogation of three Al-Qaeda operatives arrested last week. She was tracked down to a rented house in Hebbal, where a joint ATS and Bengaluru police team conducted a raid and took her into custody.”

Parveen, a graduate living with her brother—a software engineer—reportedly ran two Facebook pages and an Instagram account with over 10,000 followers. She used these platforms to circulate jihadi content, including sermons by AQIS leaders Maulana Asim Umar and Anwar al-Awlaki, advocating armed revolt and violence against non-Muslims.

DIG Joshi also revealed to CH that Parveen operated the Instagram handle strangers_nation02 and Facebook pages titled Strangers of The Nation and Strangers of The Nation 2. She posted material that called for Ghazwa-e-Hind and incited communal violence, aiming to radicalize Muslim youth.

Officials said her arrest is part of a broader crackdown on AQIS operatives. She was reportedly in contact with four men arrested on July 23 from Gujarat, Delhi, and Noida. Digital devices seized from her residence are being forensically examined.

After being produced before a Bengaluru court, she was granted a transit warrant for transfer to Gujarat. The case has reignited security concerns in Karnataka, which recently witnessed the arrest of another terror suspect by the NIA. Intelligence inputs and a recent UN report suggest AQIS is attempting to expand across India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.