Kozhikode: NIA sleuths raided homes of three people, one in Kollengode in Palakkad district and two in Kasargod district, on Sunday in connection with the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka. The sleuths arrested one and asked two others to report to National Investigation Agency office in Kochi on Monday.
The raid at Kasargod started in the morning and ended by noon. The NIA did not detain the two, while they took Riyas (29) from Kollengode in Palakkad district to their office in Kochi. They sought the help of local police to escort Riyas to Kochi.
The sleuths barged into the homes of the three suspects early in the morning, and started interrogating them and searching their houses.
The two suspects from Kasargod – Ahammed Arafat of Kaliyangad and Aboobacker Siddique of Nayanmarmoola – were under the close watch of NIA since the Lanka blasts. The NIA team seized their mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries with notes in Arabic and Malayalam, and untitled DVDs. The NIA suspects a link between the modules in Kerala and those in Sri Lanka that carried out the coordinated blasts, killing 253 people on Easter Sunday.
The three have suspected links with the accused in a case reported in 2016 in which 14 from Kasargod
left for Afghanistan and Syria, where they had allegedly joined the Islamic State (IS).
They were following posts of IS operatives on social media, including that of Saharan Hashim, the alleged mastermind of Lanka blasts, the police said.
The NIA got a lead while interrogating Shaibu Nihar, who hails from Koduvally here, after a tipoff from the Interpol in Qatar.
The police said that the speeches of Saharan Hashim were widely circulated among youth in Kerala for indoctrination.
