NIA raids homes of ISIS ‘contacts’ in Kerala, TN

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 respective houses on Thursday.

The NIA raided their houses after obtaining a warrant from the Special NIA Court, Ernakulam.

“Several mobile phones, laptops, hard disks, DVDs/CDs, memory cards, SIM cards and documents, including books and manuscripts were seized. One of them admitted that he had been in regular contact with Abdul Rashid Abdullah, an accused in another ISIS case probed by the NIA,” the official said.

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 accused in the Kanakamala case who was reportedly killed in Afghanistan. They are found to be members of Telegram group used by the ISIS leaders to co-ordinate the activities in different parts,” he said.

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.