KOCHI:
On Monday
, National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 29-year-old Riyas Aboobacker (alias Abu Dujana) from
Kollengode in Palakkad
on the charge of conspiring to commit a terrorist act.
NIA said that he was planning to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala.
The team had interrogated Aboobacker, Ahamed Arafat from Kaliyangad, Aboobacker Siddique of Nainmarmoola and two other youths, who were summoned by NIA, in connection with the
Kasaragod IS module
case. The arrest was recorded on Monday night and the accused will be produced in NIA court on Tuesday.
According to the statement released by NIA Aboobacker admitted he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala. “During interrogation, he further disclosed that he had been following speeches/videos of Zaharan Hashim – who masterminded the series of bombings in Sri Lanka – of Sri Lanka for over a year and Zakir Naik. He disclosed that he was in contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid alias Abu Isa for a long time online. He had been following Rashid’s audio clips, including the one instigating others to carryout terror attacks in India. That clip had been circulated on social media platforms,” said the statement.
NIA revealed that Aboobacker was chatting with Abdul Khayoom alias Abu Khalid (accused in Valapattanam IS Case) who is believed to be in Syria. NIA had earlier received inputs that a group of four had been in contact with some of the accused viz Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed, Khayoom who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria. After verifying this, NIA searched three places (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad) on Sunday. Sources said the raids were conducted to ascertain if this module had links with the terror attacks in Sri Lanka that claimed over 250 lives on Easter Sunday.
The interrogation started around 10am after the two youths – who were served summons – reached the office. Sources said the interrogation was based on the details they extracted from another IS sympathizer Shaibu Nihar of Koduvally, who was held in Qatar with the help of Interpol. Also, information collected prima facie from their digital devices, were used.
“The IS cases registered at various places in south India have pointed out the strong links to Hashim’s influence, especially youngsters. His radical teachings were followed by many. Though we are yet to confirm this trend in Kerala, our intelligence sources said that Hashim has followers in Kerala too,” sources said.
NIA suspects that the five persons in custody maintained online communication with IS handlers outside India. The team seized several digital devices, including mobiles, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries with handwritten notes in Arabic and Malayalam, DVDs of Zakir Naik besides untitled DVDs, CDs with religious speeches, books Naik and Syed Kutheb from their residence on Sunday.
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