IS recruitment case: NIA arrests one person in Kerala

The National Investigation Agency arrested Riyas Aboobaker today in Kochi in connection with the IS recruitment case. He will be presented at the NIA court tomorrow.

Image courtesy: the hindu.com

There are also reports that he has confessed to the investigating officers of a plan to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala. Riyas, hailing from Palakkad, was taken into custody last day but was not arrested for want of any proof.

The NIA on Friday had searched the houses of four people in Kerala in connection with the IS recruitment case. Suspected persons were summoned to the NIA office in Kochi and Riyas was taken into custody for further investigation. The NIA also clarified that the search was related to the IS recruitment case and not to the Sri Lanka Easter blasts, according to reports.

The IS recruitment case in Kerala is related to a group of people that left the country and went to Afghanistan to work for the IS three years back. A group of men and women were found missing from Kerala in 2016 and they were later understood to be in Afghanistan working for the Islamic State. Media reported that three couples in the group had been to Sri Lanka in early 2016 for religious studies but were expelled from the college for propagating extremist views. They returned to India in April and 15 persons, including those who had been to Sri Lanka, managed to leave for Afghanistan between May and July 2016.

The search was carried out in the districts of Kasaragod and Palakkad. The persons under suspicion now had reportedly kept connections with the people who had left for Afghanistan. Mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries and books etc were taken by the NIA from the houses which would be subject to forensic examination.

However, several media reported that the NIA’s search was related to suspected links with the Srilanka Easter blasts. Reports said that the suspects had connections on the social media with the supposed mastermind of the blasts namely Zafran Hashim, who was also active on Facebook. The blast mastermind is also said to have spent substantial time in south India, reported certain Indian media citing a top military source in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the Central Crime Branch officials arrested a retired army truck driver named Sundar Murthy in Bangalore on Friday night in connection with a hoax call informing of planned terror attacks in several cities in South India. He had called up the police control room claiming of terror attacks planned to be held in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. He used to get visions of future incidents while meditating and felt it his duty to inform the police, he is alleged to have explained to the police.

Courtesy: Two Circle