Reporter’s diary: Did Operation Baywatch distract TN cops from tracking IS movements?

“The talk among some bureaucrats is that the state intelligence failed to track down Khaja Moideen, the state ISIS chief and his two associates since November. The entire police department was hunting for the three of them, and even believed they were out of the country when Abdul Shameem turned at the Kanyakumari-Kerala border and killed a policeman. Is this an indication of a sound of intelligence machinery?” the source asked. 

The source went on to state that the arrest was more a matter of luck than good investigation. “It was a complaint regarding fake documents to issue SIM cards from a mobile phone service provider that helped police to make some inroads into the probe on the missing fundamentalists. Some of the SIM cards were used by the arrested suspects and that’s what helped the cops to track them.”

The source said our intelligence officers have been so busy with visits of foreign dignitaries and schemes like Operation Baywatch, that they never got to keep track of their own backyard. While there’s no doubt that luck plays a major role in all investigations, the revelations by the source did raise some concerns about the duties of the state intelligence department.