IS-inspired group was on radar for 4 months
A day after six men, part of an Islamic State-inspired group, were arrested from Kerala, a senior Home Ministry official said that the arrival of their suspected ring leader, Manseed alias Omar al Hindi (30), from Qatar four days back was the trigger for the arrests though the group had been on the radar for four months now.
The accused, who were radicalised online had formed a group called Ansar-ul-Khilafah Kerala (soldiers of the Caliphate as propagated by IS) on Telegram — a web based application platform, a senior Home Ministry official told The Hindu.
One of the accused, Jasim N.K. (24) — an engineer and the only one with an active Facebook account — was following Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and had posted several messages against killings in Syria by the Assad regime and also about children and women killed in Palestine. His social media account also said that he was a keen follower of football and cricket and he last posted a message on May 3.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which made the arrests on Sunday, said the accused were inspired by the IS and had assembled on a hilltop in Kerala’s Kannur to plan blasts and attacks against key politicians in Kerala and Tamil Nadu when they were apprehended. However, no explosives were found on them, said the official.
Met on Facebook
The accused first met through Facebook and later on moved to Telegram to avoid detection by security agencies, a senior NIA official said.
The accused had been on the radar of the security agencies for the past four months.
“We had been tracking the group for few months and then Manseed reached Kerala from Qatar four days back. We decided to keep them under watch but then they assembled at a hilltop in Kannur, we suspected that they might carry out some attack immediately, so they were apprehended,” said the official.
Manseed, a resident of Kannur in Kerala, is married and had been working in Qatar for the past few years.
Another accused Abu Basheer (29) alias Rasheed is a mechanic. The third accused, Swalih Mohammed T. (26), works at Club Mahindra in Chennai and the fourth accused, Safwan P. (30), works as a designer for a newspaper.
The other two suspects Jasim N.K. (25) and Ramshad (24) are cousins. Ramshad worked as an accountant.
“We are going through their social media accounts and have confiscated their phones and other electronic devices. They were radicalised online gradually and were brought together by Manseed,” said the official.
The NIA was investigating whether Manseed was getting directions from someone else to carry out attacks here.
Source: The Hindu
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