The Kerala Police have registered an FIR against a youth belonging to Kozhikode, who had been missing from the UAE for some time, in a case pertaining to a bid to recruit people to the global Islamist terror army, ISIS. This is the first-ever FIR to be filed in the State in an ISIS-linked case. The youth, Riyab’ul Rahman, is believed to be with the ISIS in Syria currently.
As per the FIR, Riyab, hailing from Kundungal in Kozhikode district, had been trying to recruit Keralites based in the Gulf to the ISIS through social media. However, Riyab’s father Abdul Rahman claimed that his son had no connections with the ISIS.
The registration of the FIR by the Karippur Police in Malappuram district followed the interrogation of some youths who were deported from UAE over suspected ISIS links and who had been in contact with Riyab. Four such persons were questioned at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports on Tuesday. One of them was a brother of Riyab.
The Karippur Police registered the FIR as per provisions of the UAPA and other laws upon instructions from top officials. The decision to register the case was taken by the Kerala Police on the basis of the information the State and Central agencies had received from the UAE authorities.
According to the police, Riyab, who had studied and was brought up in UAE, had visited Kerala in 2009 and had come into contact with some outfits here. He had been attracted to the ISIS after his return from Kerala. He had gone missing from Ras Al-Khaimah last April and the UAE authorities had concluded that he had gone to Syria to work with the terror group.
Riyab, who is believed to have got ISIS training, was said to be highly influential in the organisation and had been specialising in attracting Keralites residing in UAE and other Gulf countries into the group. The UAE authorities believe that he had fled to Syria after they turned their radar on him.
It is said that Riyab had been commanding a special Gulf-based group of the ISIS whose job was to enroll youths who were showing pro-ISIS sentiments. Those who were questioned in Kerala the other day had told the Intelligence agencies that the ISIS had perhaps been trying to constitute a group of people working in the IT sector.
The deportees from UAE had reportedly admitted to the agencies that they had been keeping contact with Riyab out of fear. They had also handed over Riyab’s phone number to the agencies. Though they were let off after questioning, the deportees would be under constant observation.
Sources said that those who were interrogated at Thiruvananthapuram could have exchanged pro-ISIS contents with acquaintances through social media. The agencies had last month questioned a Malappuram native who was deported from the UAE. As per reports, at least 11 Keralites could be under detention in the Gulf over suspected ISIS connections presently.
Riyab’s father Abdul Rahman said he believed that the UAE authorities had detained his son. He said that Riyab’s brother had been detained in the UAE earlier. “Nobody had asked me about my son or his activities,” Abdul Rahman said. Riyab’s parents, who had been residing in UAE, had returned to Kerala the other day.
Till Riyab’s case came up, a former journalist from Palakkad had been the only person thought to have joined the ISIS. He was working with a newspaper run by a pro-Islamist outfit before he went to Qatar in 2013 following his families’ objections to his connections with that organization.
He had later informed the family that he was going to Saudi Arabia where his father was working. However, there had been no information on him after that and the inference is that he could have migrated to Syria. His earlier Facebook posts had claimed that he was a soldier of the Al-Nusra and that the goal was establishment of Khilafat.