Why in the news?

• The Delhi Blast shows the growing trend of white-collar terrorism in India.

White-Collar Terrorism

• Definition: White-Collar Terrorism is a recently emerging term in internal security discourse, referring to the participation of highly educated, well-placed professionals (doctors, engineers, IT experts, professors) in terrorist activities.
• Features
  • Technical Expertise: Use of specialized knowledge (e.g., chemical engineers making explosives, IT professionals managing encrypted comms, doctors procuring restricted substances).
  • Self-Radicalization: Often radicalized online via “echo chambers” rather than physical training camps.
  • Clean Financing: Operations are often self-funded using legitimate salaries, bypassing “terror financing” watchdogs that look for hawala or illicit flows.
  • Institutional Access: Ability to infiltrate critical infrastructure (hospitals, universities, research labs) from within.
• Causes
  • Ideological Rigidness: High education does not immunize against radicalization. A search for “absolute truths” or identity can lead professionals toward extremist ideologies.
  • Relative Deprivation: A perceived sense of injustice against one’s community, despite personal economic success.
  • Digital Insularity: Encrypted platforms allow professionals to interact with global terror networks without leaving their homes/offices.
• Types
  • Operational Actors: Professionals who physically carry out attacks (e.g., a doctor planting a car bomb). This is rare but rising.
  • Logistical Enablers: Those who use their status to rent safe houses, buy vehicles, or secure passes/IDs for restricted areas.
  • Silent Financiers: Individuals who never meet a terrorist but fund them through anonymous digital transfers.
  • The “Insider Threat”: Employees in critical sectors (Nuclear plants, ISRO, AIIMS) who leak sensitive data to handlers.
• Challenges To Detect
  • Profiling Failure: Traditional profiling methods are useless as perpetrators possess high social legitimacy and clean records.
  • Insider Threat: Difficult to detect when the perpetrator is a trusted employee with valid security clearance.
  • Encrypted Comms: Use of high-end encryption makes real-time intelligence gathering nearly impossible.
  • Legal Hurdles: Balancing surveillance measures against ethical concerns regarding privacy and academic freedom.
• Indian Steps to Counter the Issue
  • Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967:
    • This is the primary anti-terror law used to prosecute individuals involved in white-collar terror modules, such as the recent incidents involving doctors and academics in the NCR region.
    • Amendment: Empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists, which is vital for targeting “clean skin” white-collar operatives who act without a formal organizational tag.
  • Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002: PMLA is invoked when legitimate income is turned into “proceeds of crime” by diverting it to terrorist activities. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) uses this to trace and attach assets derived from terror funding.
  • National Investigation Agency (NIA): The primary central agency for UAPA cases, with dedicated cells like the Terror Funding and Fake Currency (TFFC) Cell.

Source: Deccan Herald