Phone intercepts and Facebook posts of two ISIS head-hunters, recently arrested in Gujarat, indicate that they lured Indian Muslim youths by citing atrocities in Kashmir and the conflict in Myanmar, where Rohingya Muslims have been facing persecution.

Mohammed Qasim Stimberwala and Ubed Ahmed Mirza had been propagating the ISIS ideology for the last three years. The intelligence agencies are in possession of hours of chatter, wherein the duo can be heard prompting the young minds to take up the cause of ISIS.

In a recent conversation, one recruit is heard asking Qasim about the Rohingya crisis. "Wo Burma me chal raha hai uske liye kuch hai ki nahi (Are there any instructions for what's happening in Burma)." To which, Qasim replies: "Arey bhai tu ye sab phone pe mat puchch, main tere ko mil ke batata hun (Don't ask all this on the phone. I will tell you when we meet)."

The police have also mentioned several other phone and Facebook conversations in their report.

The duo first came on the radar in 2014, while they were facilitating the travel of four Hyderabad youths to Turkey. They were to later cross over to Syria to join the ISIS. The police FIR mentioned that the four youths got a call from a woman named Shazia, who introduced herself as Qasim's friend and gave them directions.

The four were apprehended in Kolkata by a team of Telangana Police in August, 2014, and were made to go through a de-radicalisation programme. One of them was later arrested for making another attempt to join ISIS."We had been tracking the two for three years. They were not arrested as part of a strategy as several other sympathisers and recruits were identified through them," an intelligence officer said.

One of their recruits, who was later de-radicalised after being intercepted in 2014, told DNA that they would send videos and write-ups on atrocities against Muslims in India and across the globe.

"Initially, they did not reveal their identities and claimed they were outside India. But once they were convinced, they told us that they were from Gujarat. After convincing us to join the ISIS, they arranged for our travel and gave us directions. We were told to contact a person who would help us cross over to Bangladesh. They also gave contact details of people in Turkey, who would help us to go to Syria," he said.

"They also put us in touch with a person from Dubai, who sent us money," another de-radicalised recruit said.

Mirza, who used Hafio Ahmed as a pseudonym on Facebook, claimed to be based in Mosul, Iraq. This account has now been shut down by Facebook but intelligence agencies have kept a record of his posts.

"The Kashmiris haven't learned that without the call for Sharia, unity is not possible," he wrote on July 8, 2016. Then again, replying to a comment, he wrote, "They should start a full-fledged war, only then will other Muslims from other parts of the world will join them."

"Don't celebrate Independence Day. Remain a Muslim," another of his Facebook post stated.

The duo was also in touch with an air hostess, who would help them with gold smuggling to raise funds for their terror activities. The arrested handlers were in contact with Shafi Armar alias Zahid al-Hindi, who is said to have joined ISIS in Syria. Qasim was also planning to leave for hijrat to Jamaica and meet a radical preacher, Abdullah el-Faisal, who had been guiding them, the police said.

THE GUJARAT terror angle

One of the two ISIS terrorists, Kasim Stimberwala, was employed at a Bharuch hospital where Ahmed Patel was a trustee