Forget Telegram, Signal: IS ultras in India, abroad using much more secure Threema

Anand Singh / New Delhi

Amid the debate over privacy concerns, several people are switching to Telegram and Signal from WhatsApp. However, terrorists in India and abroad are using a much more advanced secure messaging platform to communicate with their counterparts across the globe without being traced and without leaving any digital footprint, a NIA probe has revealed.

The NIA during its probe into the Islamic State Iraq and Syria Khorasan Province (ISIS-KP) case has found arrested accused Jahanzaib Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh and Bengaluru-based doctor Abdur Rahman aka 'Dr Brave' were using Threema, a secure messaging platform.

Wani and Beigh were nabbed in March 2020, while Rahman was caught in August. In a statement on January 12, an NIA spokesperson said: "Till recently Rahman was in regular communication with ISIS terrorists located abroad and in India, including Sami on 'Threema', a secure messaging platform."

The revelations were made on Tuesday when the anti-terror-probe agency filed a chargesheet against Rahman, who had returned from Syria in December 2013 and was misusing his medical knowledge to develop a laser-guided missile system for the banned terror group.