From BBM To Threema: How Messaging Apps fuel J&K terror networks

Srinagar, May 10: The Blackberry Messenger (BBM) application has again surfaced on the terror network in Jammu and Kashmir, with the interrogation of a key Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist indicating the use of several applications, including some banned ones, to communicate with other members, officials said on Sunday.

An LeT module, tasked with setting up bases outside Jammu and Kashmir, was busted by the Srinagar police early last month with the arrest of Abdullah alias Abu Hureira, a resident of Kasur in Pakistan’s Punjab, along with another Pakistani terrorist, Mohammed Usman Jatt, and several Overground Workers (OGWs) in Kashmir.

Due to its interstate and global ramifications, the case is now being further investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

During the investigation, Abu Hureira told investigators that he and his team had been using multiple applications, including BBM, Element, Threema and Dust, alongside mainstream platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Skipee and Signal, the officials said.

BBM first came under the radar of investigative agencies in 2009, and the then government had threatened to ban its use in India unless its manufacturer, Canada-based Research-In-Motion (RIM), installed servers in India to allow access to central security agencies. The firm eventually complied and servers were installed in 2011–12.

However, in 2019, BBM shut down its free services and moved to BBM Enterprise, a paid service designed for corporate use. Following Abu Hureira’s statement, investigators are now tracking the owners of the BBM Enterprise accounts used by terrorists and intend to take up the matter with the service provider, the officials said.

Though the digital technologies have been under surveillance in Jammu and Kashmir since 2016, there has been an increasing concern about the cybersecurity environment.

Officials have repeatedly flagged the use of highly secure and private instant messengers such as Threema, a Swiss-based instant messenger that provides total anonymity of communication, making it impossible to trace its users since it doesn’t require a phone number or an email.

In May 2023, the Centre banned 14 messaging applications on the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs. These included Element, the collaboration platform managed by the London-based Element Creations Limited. The app is built on the decentralised Matrix open-standard protocol. The Element’s removal was specifically attributed to concerns over its use by terror modules operating within Jammu and Kashmir to bypass traditional surveillance.

Similarly, apps like Dust (formerly Cyber Dust) have faced increased monitoring due to their emphasis on messages disappearing within 24 hours or immediately after being read. The officials argue that it hampers real-time intelligence gathering.

All these apps are common among the terror groups, which generally use Virtual Private Network (VPN) to connect to these applications.

The proliferation of the internet has made social media an attractive tool for communication and information sharing, which in turn facilitates terrorist organisations in expanding their networks, the officials said.

They also warned that some people, posing as extreme nationalists, have been identified as having affiliations with radical groups, including the banned Jamaat-e-Islami.

Notably, the United Nations has repeatedly raised the issue of terrorist groups leveraging propaganda on online platforms for various nefarious purposes, including recruitment and incitement to violence.

In response to these challenges, the UN Security Council had adopted the resolution 2354 of 2017 — ‘Comprehensive International Framework’ — which advocates for legal and law enforcement measures, public-private partnerships and the development of counter-narratives.