Hyderabad: The arrest of three cousins who tried to join terror outfits came as a bolt from the blue for their parents. After counselling by police and pressure from the family when he was brought back from Kolkata in September last year, Abdul Basith, 21, seemed to have shed his ideas. He had started going back to his college in Panjagutta.
However, hours after he came back home along with his family members from Nalgonda on Thursday night, he went missing from his home at Nazeebnagar. His parents realised that two of his cousins had also gone missing early on Friday morning. They then went to the local police to lodge a complaint.
“We all went to Nalgonda to attend a wedding and we came back on Thursday night. After they disappeared, we tried to reach them several times, but all attempts were in vain. In the night, we approached the police and lodged a missing case,” said Anas, a relative of Basith. Basith’s father Abdul Arif had no clue that his son would again try to join the ISIS.
Basith’s cousin Omar Farooq Hussaini was a bright student and had not expressed an inclination towards extreme ideas in the past. “He was a bright student and used to come to the Masjid regularly. He never came across as someone with any frustration or extreme ideas,” said Md. Laheek Khan, a neighbour.
Omar was a happy go lucky youngster with several pets including cats. He was also obsessed with science and mathematics. “He used to teach us maths and science earlier. He was also very good at general knowledge,” said a 13-yea--old from next door, who added that Omar was not seen regularly in the neighbourhood for the last few weeks.
Omar’s father, Syed Azeezullah Hussaini, who is a well respected man in the neighbourhood, runs a beedi firm and is a part time cleric in the nearest mosque. The trio had kept even their cousins and close friends in the dark about their plans.
