Kerala: National Investigation Agency quizzes three for links with Islamic State

Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has interrogated three persons, including one Alappuzha native, and conducted searches in their houses while acting on “reliable information” that several persons from Kerala and Tamil Nadu were still in touch with members of the terrorist organisation ISIS. The three are Basil Shihab, 25, of Mullasserry house, Kidangamparambu in Alappuzha, and Abdul Rahman of Ukkadam and S. Abdullah of Karumbukadai, both in Coimbatore. 

The sleuths probing the case relating to the busting of an IS module from Kanakamala in Kannur last year questioned them in their houses on Thursday. “Several mobiles, laptops, hard disks, DVDs/CDs, memory cards, SIMs and documents, including books and manuscripts were seized. One of them admitted he was in regular contact with Abdul Rashid Abdullah, an accused in another ISIS case probed by the NIA,” the official said.

The NIA raided the houses of IS suspects after obtaining a warrant from the Special NIA Court, Ernakulam. The NIA officials said the seized materials have been sent for forensic examination. “As of now, none of them have been arrested or arraigned as accused. We’ll record their arrest if we get crucial evidence in the forensic test,” an official said. “The trio is suspected to be part of the group formed by Shajeer Mangalassery alias Abu Ayisha, one of the main absconding accused in the Kanakamala case who was  reportedly killed in Afghanistan. They are found to be members of WhatsApp and Telegram group used by the ISIS leaders to co-ordinate the activities in different parts,”  he said.

While Basil is working at a computer shop in Vytilla, Rahman completed his MCA and Abdullah is running an internet cafe at Ukkadam. As per the chargesheet filed by the NIA in the Kanakamala case on March 29 last, it was Shajeer who had hatched a criminal conspiracy to form a terrorist group in the region to further the objectives of ISIS.  The NIA found that Basil Shihab had uploaded posts and promoted an IS website. His relatives said that Basil was a B.Tech-holder from Anna University, Coimbatore. His father Shihabudheen is in the Gulf and a lone sister is married. He was living with his mother and grandmother in his  house  near the district court.