French police team to quiz alleged IS returnee in Kerala
: A team of French police arrived in Kochi on Wednesday to question an alleged Islamic State operative Subahani Haja Moideen as part of its investigation into the 2015 Paris terror attack.
During interrogation Moideen, lodged in Viyyur central jail, told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that he had interacted with some terrorists like Abdelhamid Abaaoud who masterminded the Paris attack during his stay in Syria and Iraq, said NIA sources. The French police team was granted permission to quiz Moideen by an NIA court in Kochi.
Moideen, a resident of Thodupuzha in Idukki district is an accused in the Kanakamala terror plot in Kannur, which intended to target many leaders of South India. Moideen who was arrested by an NIA team on October 5, 2015 had told the NIA that he had fought for IS in Iraq and Syria in 2015. He told investigators that he was trained in an IS camp in Raqqa (a city in war-torn Syria) after which he was inducted into a terror module. He had also confessed that he fought for an IS regiment named ‘Omer Kathi Caliph’ commanded by Abu Sulaiman Al Francisse.
During his six-month stay in Iraq in 2015 (April to September) he told interrogators that some of the masterminds of attacks across Europe like Abaaoud, Abdeslam and Mohammad Usman visited his commander Al Francisse and Moideen had interacted with some of them. Belgian-Moroccan Abaaoud the prime suspected to be the mastermind behind Paris attack was later killed in an encounter. Abdeslam and Mohammad Usman are reported to be jailed in France.
The November 2015 Paris attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that took place in the French capital city where a football match, cafes, restaurants and a music concert were hit. The attacks left 130 people dead.
According to NIA sources, Moideen who was radicalised by Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the mentors of al Qaeda, flew to Istanbul on April 2015 and after a few days was taken to the Syrian border by his handlers. Moideen claimed that he was shifted to Raqqa and given training. He fled from IS clutches after he saw one his aides burned alive during an attack only to be captured by other IS militants.
Moideen later said that he was produced before a ‘judge’ and jailed for a month. He was freed after he promised his handlers he was ready for another round of training. He said after twoweek training he was sent back on the promises he will continue his activities back home in India. Once reached in Istanbul in September 2015, he lodged a complaint saying his travel documents were stolen during a religious trip in Turkey. Later the Indian embassy arranged him an emergency visa.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM