The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), May 19, detained Jasim Shahnawaz Ansari, an 18-year-old Nadiad resident, on Monday for alleged participation in cyber terrorism. According to ATS authorities, Ansari escalated his activities after India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
According to ATS officers, Ansari and a few other youths reportedly launched cyber attacks on around 50 Indian government websites between April and May 2025. These included websites for defence, finance, aviation, urban development, and multiple state governments, The Times of India reports.
The arrest was made on intelligence inputs received by the Gujarat ATS during surveillance operations.
According to ATS officials, Ansari and his accomplices formed a Telegram channel called AnonSec where they discussed and carried out DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. These attacks aimed to bring down websites by overwhelming them with traffic.
The ATS discovered that Ansari learnt Python programming using internet channels such as YouTube and downloaded cyber-attack tools from GitHub. These tools were used to launch DDoS attacks via programmes such as Termux and Pydroid.
Ansari and other juveniles launched cyberattacks under multiple identities and constantly changed group names. "They spread anti-national propaganda by posting about successful attacks," according to an ATS press release.
The probe also indicated that Ansari increased attacks when India started Operation Sindoor in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
On May 7, 2025, 20 government websites were targeted, with slogans like "India may have started it, but we will be the ones to finish it" placed on their group, according to ATS officers.
An ATS officer stated that Ansari recently failed Class 12 Science, whereas another juvenile, aged 17, is currently in Class XII.
ATS officers began looking into whether the accused acted freely or were influenced by foreign entities. Further investigation of the tools, software, and digital links is underway. ATS officers are attempting to collect digital footprints in the investigation.
The Gujarat ATS filed a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 43 and 66F of the Information Technology (IT) Act for cyber terrorism.
