Delhi Police's special cell gets a recast with new units

NEW DELHI: The special cell, Delhi Police's anti-terror unit, has been restructured by commissioner Rakesh Asthana with new verticals created on the lines of global intelligence agencies and separate desks tracking the security of the country and the capital besides undertaking counter-terror and cyber operations.
An intelligence fusion and strategic operations (IFSO) unit has been created to probe matters of national and economic security apart from cyber crime and issues affecting the city's public order.

A jihadi terror desk will focus on international terror outfits such as ISIS and al Qaeda, besides Pakistan, POK and Kashmir-based terror groups.
Special cell recast aims to strike at organised crime
A separate desk will focus on tracking Khalistani terrorism, sources said.
A narco-terror and organised crime (NTOC) vertical will have two units headed by a DCP each. Two other units, counter insurgency (CI) and operations and intelligence (OT), will work on enhancing technical capabilities and handle real-time dissemination of intelligence from multiple agencies, respectively.
Asthana had undertaken the first part of the restructuring in September when multiple DCP rank officers were posted in the special cell, triggering speculation about their work area. The latest order not only defines that but also widens the scope of work for the different units.
"Terrorism and organised crime, in their various manifestations, have evolved over the past few years as a network of deeply interconnected and symbiotically linked nodes and layers. With greater involvement of foreign state/non-state players, access to secure communication networks and ease of borderless fund transfers outside government controls, the isolated and specialised groups have started coordinating their activities to harness each other's networks and resources," said the police chief.
"For instance, the narcotics trade is now being used for financial settlement of arms supplies to terror groups and counterfeit currency supplies are being used to finance insurgent networks. The extensive usage of encrypted and secure cyber networks and applications for communication within the criminal/anti-national groups have emerged in parallel," he added.
"It is imperative that the special cell, which has the mandate to attend to the challenges posed by the terror groups and organised criminal gangs is restructured by aligning its activities into specialised verticals to deal with the evolving challenges," said Asthana.
The IFSO vertical will be headed by DCP K P S Malhotra while the jihadi terror and Khalistani verticals will be overseen by DCPs Pramod Kushwaha and Sanjeev Yadav, respectively. IFSO, which will replace the operations of erstwhile cyber crime and cyPAD units as well, will be responsible for monitoring activities on the Dark Web, employing data analytics for creating actionable inputs and operations and carrying out investigations pertaining to organised and cyber crime.
This unit will coordinate with agencies like FIU (financial investigation unit), SFIO (serious fraud investigation office), DRI (Department of Revenue Intelligence) and Customs to develop actionable inputs. IFSO has also been tasked with preventing incitement and commission of any cognisable offence in which cyberspace is used by the offenders/criminals. It can also take up investigation of district units on instructions from the police headquarters.
The Khalistan desk will also handle crackdowns on organised crime, fake currency and arms trafficking syndicates. The OT unit will additionally handle things like city suspect surveillance and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, sources said.
The special cell will now take action against money-laundering syndicates having bearing on inter-state and organised crimes which threaten financial stability. Action against underworld and affiliated syndicates having links with gangsters settled abroad will also be initiated, say sources.