New Delhi, October 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Pakistan-based terror networks are reportedly returning to an older recruitment strategy, targeting financially vulnerable youth and daily-wage workers to carry out surveillance, drug smuggling and targeted attacks, according to officials cited in a recent assessment of terror-related investigations.
The alleged shift has emerged alongside the discovery of self-radicalised terror modules involving educated professionals. The busting of the Faridabad terror module, which allegedly carried out the car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort in November last year, exposed the involvement of white-collar professionals in suspected terror activities, the report said.
According to officials, some such modules draw ideological inspiration from outfits including Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba but operate with limited contact with Pakistan-based operatives during their formation and activities.
“Such persons are more lethal, require very little guidance and are capable of planning and executing high-value attacks while also raising funds on their own,” an official said, describing the earlier trend of recruiting educated and relatively well-off youth.
However, officials have observed a change in recruitment patterns over the past six to eight months, with greater emphasis reportedly being placed on daily-wage workers, less-educated individuals and people facing financial hardship.
“These recruits are not driven by ideology but are willing to work for small sums ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000,” the official said.
Such individuals are allegedly being recruited for surveillance operations, drug smuggling and short-duration attacks. The report cited the case of Maqsood Ali, a 21-year-old daily-wage worker arrested in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. He was allegedly tasked with running a surveillance network and recruiting additional members. According to the report, he had recruited people from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Another official said those recruited through this approach were generally neither highly educated nor high-profile individuals, with financial incentives playing a major role in their involvement. Recent arrests by police units in different states had also pointed to money as a key motivating factor, the official added.
Counter-terrorism analysts cited in the report said such recruits might lack the operational capabilities of highly educated, self-radicalised operatives and require greater guidance. Nevertheless, they could still pose a significant security threat.
Their ordinary working profiles may help them avoid suspicion, officials said. Daily-wage workers posing as technicians, for instance, could allegedly enter crowded locations such as railway stations and bus stands to install CCTV cameras capable of transmitting live feeds to handlers based in Pakistan.
“Even the people who see them do not suspect them as they look like genuine individuals who have been called in to either repair or install a camera,” an official said.
Officials said the reported pattern resembled recruitment methods used by terror handlers several years ago, when financially vulnerable youth were allegedly enlisted to procure bomb-making materials and plant explosives at designated locations. Such recruits could carry out assignments without attracting the scrutiny that might surround more prominent operatives.
The latest assessment suggests that Pakistan-based networks may be relying on both self-radicalised modules comprising white-collar professionals and recruitment driven by economic vulnerability, officials said.
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