Terrorism & Organised Crime

Terrorism

‘acts committed with the objective of seriously intimidating a population, destabilising or destroying structures of a country or international organisation or making a government abstain from performing actions’.

• To instil a sense of terror among minds of people, Government and Non-combatants through use of Violence, Non- State actors, Intimidating a target
• These factors include but are not limited to violence, harm, and threats; randomness or indiscriminate violence; political motivation; the targeting of civilians, non-combatants and so-called innocents; and deliberate attempts to publicize the acts of terror.
• The UN General Assembly Resolution 49/60 titled "Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism”, contains a provision describing terrorism as: - Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical (Like Thanos in End Game), ideological (Maoist), racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.
• Cyber Terrorism
• Ethno-Nationalist Terrorism (Like in NE of India, ask separate country for ethnic people)
• Nuclear Terrorism
• Ideological Terrorism
• Narco- terrorism (Selling Drug)
• Bio Terrorism

Technology & Terrorism

• Propaganda (Online, Social Media)
• Financing
• Training
• Planning
• Execution
• Cyber-attacks

Terrorism Financing

• Illegal Activities – Drug, Crude Oil.
• Donations by supporters & Diaspora People.
• Front Organisation & NGOs. (Fake NGO Collect money, say for welfare but use to support terrorist).
• Money Laundering.
• Alliance with drug cartels & organised crime groups.
• Counterfeit currency. (Fake Notes).
• Theft & currency smuggling.
• High jacking & Extortions.

Lone Wolf Attacks

Lone Wolf Attack - ISIS defeated in 2017, ISIS solders are scattered throughout the world, they do independent attacks. The does not get order to do, they radicalized themselves & do attacks. Ex: Like Go to crowd place and random shoot everyone

• Sleeper cell – work for intelligence & logistics. Like Get home, food for terrorist
• Over the Ground Worker – Non-violent People (Aline with Terrorist, Support Guerilla warfare.
• A "lone wolf" is a person who prepares and commits violent acts alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group.
• It is an efficient way of spreading terror in hard-to-access places for organised terrorist groups.
• Prominent recent examples across the globe include Boston marathon bombing of 2013, Sydney hostage crisis of 2014, recent attacks in New York and London where vehicles were used to run over and kill a number of people.
• Volatile neighbourhood of India acting as terror hotbeds, fast growing population especially youth with access to mass media and social media, with unemployment, poverty, discontent against government or society, depression

India & Lone wolf risk – Lower.

• Indians have not displayed the psychological willingness to undertake high risk attacks.
• The absence of past examples of lone wolf attacks in India inculcates the fear of the unknown in the minds of potential volunteers.
• Unlike in the US where sophisticated weapons can be easily bought by ordinary citizens, gaining access to such weaponry in India is difficult.

Steps Taken to Counter Terrorism

Enabling a strong legislation framework.

• NIA Act, 2019: The NIA is now empowered to investigate offences related to
• Human trafficking,
• Offences related to counterfeit currency or bank notes,
• Manufacture or sale of prohibited arms,
• Cyber-terrorism, and
• Offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
• UAPA Act, 2019: Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.
• The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
• The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.

Institutional framework to tackle terrorism

• NATGRID: It seeks to become the one-stop destination for security and intelligence agencies to access database related to immigration entry and exit, banking and telephone details of a suspect on a - secured platform. (Integration all transaction list. Ex: Bank detail, gold purchase, land purchase etc… give Access to NIA, and agency which need).
• National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) has been established as a cyber-security and e-surveillance agency in India.

Combating Terror Finance

• Strengthening the provisions in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 to combat terror financing by criminalizing the production or smuggling or circulation of high quality counterfeit Indian currency as a terrorist act and enlarge the scope of proceeds of terrorism to include any property intended to be used for terrorism.
• A Terror Funding and Fake Currency (TFFC) Cell has been constituted in National Investigation Agency (NIA) to conduct focused investigation of terror funding and fake currency cases.
• Training to Police personnel.
• Fake currency cell in Security forces.

Steps in UN by India

• India has prioritised the adoption of an intergovernmental framework to combat terrorism.
• India introduced the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in 1996 that defined terrorism and enhanced - normative processes for the prosecution and extradition of terrorists.
• Drafting a Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in the General Assembly in 2006. [Interested country can join to counter terrorism].
• Serving as a founding members of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF).
• Supporting counter-terrorism mechanisms established by UN Security Council Resolutions, such as Resolution 1373 establishing the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and Resolution 1540 addressing the non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction to terrorist organisations.
• Counter-terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF)- a partnership of bodies created by UN in 2005, which now includes more than thirty UN entities plus INTERPOL, to streamline and coordinate counter terrorism efforts within the UN.
• The RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure) aims to promote better coordination among members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on terrorism. India considers RATS as an important and effective organisation in fight against terrorism as it possesses data on 2,500 suicide bombers and 69 terrorist organizations.

Jingoism - extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy.

Organised Crime

The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime defines an organized criminal group as:

A structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit.

• Organised crime is the collective result of the commitment, knowledge and actions of three components:
• The Criminal groups.
• The Protectors - Corrupt Public Officials, Attorneys and Businessmen.
• The Specialist support – Skilled people in various fields – Pilots, doctors, chemist, engineers.

Characteristics

• Organised hierarchy
• Trans-national in nature (Like International crime).
• Criminality
• Violence
• Power & Profit (Main Aim of Organised Crime).
• Smuggling
• Drug Trafficking
• Hawala & Money Laundering
• Human Trafficking
• Arms Trafficking
• Endangered Animal Trade
• Contract Killing
• Kidnapping for Ransome
• Prostitution Rackets; Sex Trafficking.