ISIS operative gets 10 years imprisonment in conspiracy to conduct suicide attacks

NEW DELHI: A special NIA court has sentenced an ISIS operative to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for promoting the banned terrorist outfit's violent ideology and agenda and conspiring to carry out suicide attacks in Kerala's Kochi.

The accused, Riyas Aboobacker alias Abu Dujana, a resident of Palakkad (Kerala), has also been fined by the special Ernakulam (Kerala) court, which found him guilty under sections 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and section 120B of Indian Penal Code.

Riyas was arrested by the NIA on September 24, 2019 and charge-sheeted in October of the same year. He is the third person to be convicted in the ISIS Kasaragod module case relating to the activities of 14 youths from Kasaragod district of Kerala who, along with their families, had exited India between May and July 2016 and had joined ISIS or Daish in the Islamic Caliphate announced by the proscribed terrorist organisation.

In 2018, the NIA obtained the conviction of Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid, who was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine, followed by Nashidul Hamsafar, who was handed five years of rigorous imprisonment in 2021.

As per the NIA, Riyas, who went by the name Abu Dujana on social media, had been radicalised into the ISIS ideology since 2017 by absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla and Ashfak Majeed.

"The radicalisation took place over social media and since July 2018, Riyas had been propagating and furthering the proscribed organisation's violent ideology and plans," the NIA said.

The NIA investigation revealed that Riyad had, in October 2018, also conspired to carry out suicide attacks at prominent business centres in Kochi to spread terror and further the activities of ISIS in India.

"Investigations had further established that Riyas had motivated and sought support from his co-conspirators for carrying out the terrorist acts," said the anti-terror agency.

The NIA took over the case, originally registered at Chandera Police Station in Kerala, in August 2016 and is continuing with its investigations into the matter.