National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers have received information that there are Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists living in every district of Kerala. They are working as the Kerala module of ISIS. These revelations came out when NIA interrogated Ashif (36), a resident of Mathilakam, Thrissur, who was recently caught in the Sathyamangalam forest of Tamil Nadu where he was hiding.
Ashif was trying to strengthen ISIS in Kerala. For this, the terror suspect had found three to four people in each district. He has handed over the information of about 30 people to NIA. They are under NIA surveillance. The terrorists planned to avenge the banning of the terrorist organization Popular Front of India (PFI) by the central government. They prepared a plan to adopt the Sri Lankan model for attacks.
The investigation team has widened the search in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for Nabeel, the second suspect in the Kerala ISIS terrorism case. Combing and search operation by the security forces is happening in the forests.
It is learned that secret messages were exchanged between Nabeel and the arrested Ashif. Nabeel recruited radical Islamists from Kerala to various Islamic State groups. Nabeel’s task was to identify youths with religious terrorist ideas and make them part of the Kerala ISIS module.
Ashif sponsored these recruitment and terrorist activities. He engaged in robberies and extortion. They also targeted prominent citizens. Both of them planned attacks similar to the blasts at the Christian church in Sri Lanka on Easter Day 2019.
Digital evidence seized from Ashif is being analyzed. The NIA plans to take him back into custody and interrogate him once the results are examined. The movements of the gang, which was part of the global terrorism module, were foiled by the timely intervention of the NIA.
Ashif was arrested during the NIA’s investigation following a tip-off about the presence of Islamic State terrorists in Kerala. Similar to Kerala, the NIA has learned that terrorists have received local support in Tamil Nadu too.
Two years ago, HinduPost had reported that as per intelligence sources, interrogation of two women suicide bombers of the ISIS Kerala module had revealed that up to 3200 ISIS sleeper cells could exist in Kerala. Each cell supposedly has 10 members, so Kerala could now have around 32,000 openly jihadi Islamists, of which 40% are women. Many of the radicals are modern, highly educated, and use the latest technology and devices. Some have weapons training and most were recruited using grooming, money, sex, drugs, positions, or foreign jobs.
Anyone who has interacted w/ Muslim societies in India knows that a large number of them are ALREADY highly “radical”, meaning to say that they take the words in the Quran and Hadith very very seriously and are ever ready to implement it in their life. In name of Islam, they are willing to kill and die, and this has been the case for long time (ex: during partition). Today, it is ISIS that is providing the organising force for this, earlier it may have been Muslim league or whatever… But the basic problem is that the cult followers are totally devoid of critical thinking, ability to dissent, ability to co-exist with other ways of life etc. That is the problem for 1400 years.