Key points
» IS module allegedly was plotting to kill four prominent people in Kerala.
» Planned to ram truck into a community convention in Kochi.
» The chat group started by the module in Kerala had 12 members, half of them abroad.
» They abandoned the group after cops got whiff of them; were arrested while meeting at Kanakamala in Kannur.
» The organization that coordinated with the Kerala ISIS unit is named Ansar-ul Khilafah.
» The messages sent through the Telegram app were retrieved by the investigation team.
» Group headed by Manseed, a Kannur native, who went under the assumed name of Sameer Ali
New Delhi: Four more persons with alleged links to Mideast terror group ISIS have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) over a plot to carry out terror attacks in the country. The agency had earlier detained six other persons from Kerala over the plot.
Thodupuzha native Subahani was held from Tirunelveli and three others were arrested from Coimbatore on Monday. The agency got wind of the plot while probing the disappearance of 21 people from Kerala who are believed to have joined the Islamic State (ISIS).
Those arrested Sunday are Manseed alias Omar Al Hindi, Abu Basheer alias Rashid, Swalih Mohammed. T alias Yousuf, Safwan. P, Jasim N.K. and Ramshad Nageelan Kandiyil alias Aaamu from two districts of Kerala. Those arrested will be presented before a special NIA court Monday at Ernakulam, sources in the anti-terror probe agency said.
The organization that coordinated with the Kerala ISIS unit is named Ansar-ul Khilafah. Half of its members are abroad. Onmanorama had in July reported about a group with the same name that posted a death threat against Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin on their Facebook page. The page was deactivated as soon as the media started publishing reports about it. Many posts on the deactivated FB page were against the secular Indian state and democracy. Kerala cops had apparently not acted on that info despite the media reports at that time.
Reports suggest that the IS module was allegedly plotting to kill four prominent people in Kerala and had also planned to drive a truck into the Jamaat-e-Islaami convention in Kochi last month. But timely intelligence on the latter attack helped prevent it.
NIA was assisted by police personnel from Kerala, Delhi and Telangana during the operations.
Five from the group were arrested when they were allegedly holding a meeting at Kanakamala hilltop in Kannur district. During subsequent searches, another person was detained from Kuttiyadi in Kozhikode district and later arrested.
The NIA spokesman said that during the searches, incriminating material besides electronic devices were seized. Among those were messages xposted against the Indian army on the day of the Uri terror attack that killed 19 Indian soldiers.
(With inputs from agencies)