Kerala: National Investigation Agency lodges case against 5 for ISIS link

Kochi: The Kochi unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against five accused persons with suspected Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) links. According to sources, a case under Sections 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 has been registered against Midhilaj (26), Abdul Rasak (34), Rashid M V (24), all residents of Valapattanam in Kannur, and Manaf Rahman (42) and Hamsa U K (57) of Thalassery in Kannur.

Earlier in October, the Valapattanam police had registered a case (Crime No. 1010/ 2017) against the accused and a few others for being members of the proscribed terrorist organization and for supporting the organization by travelling out of India to join the terrorist organization in Syria and fight on its behalf. "The NIA has taken over the probe and the case has been reregistered (RC-02/2017/NIA/KOC) with the NIA police station in Kochi on December 16," sources said.

The local police had arrested Midhilaj, Abdul Rasak and Rashid after they allegedly failed to enter Syria through Turkey to join the IS earlier this year. According to police, while Midhilaj chose the Sharjah-Iran-Turkey route, Abdhul Razack chose the Dubai-Iran-Turkey route and Rashid opted for the Malaysia-Iran-Turkey route. During a follow-up investigation, the cops held Hamsa and Shahjahan from Thalassery. While Hamsa is alleged to be one of the main IS recruiting agents in Malabar, Shahjahan had been under police surveillance ever since his failed attempt to join the IS by entering Syria.