In a major faux pas, two people from Kasaragoda district in north Kerala, who were arrested last night by the State police while canvassing for a Salafi Muslim conclave in Karnataka later this month, were released on Tuesday, after the messages on the leaflets they were distributing, turned out to be anti-ISIS propaganda.
The confusion, according to a senior police official was caused, because the content on the leaflets was printed in Kannada, a language which local cops were not familiar with.
late on Monday, the North Goa district police, Anti-Terrorism Cell of the Goa Police and the Intelligence Bureau were in a tizzy after they were informed by local residents of Dona Paula, a Panaji suburb, that two persons were handing out pamphlets with the word ISIS on them in English, while the rest of the content was in Kannada.
The police reacted immediately, arrested both Ilyas U,34, and Abdul Nazir,24, but on Tuesday Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Umesh Gaonkar said that the duo had been released because they had no terror links.
“They are closely involved in Salafi activities. They believe in true Islam. The pamphlet in Kannada language, in fact condemns ISIS. Because it was in Kannada, we did not realize it immediately. We verified it later with a Kannada translator,” Gaonkar told reporters at the North Goa Police headquarters.
“The pamphlet was printed in Kannada and there is ISIS mentioned on top which caused the confusion,” Gaonkar further said.
After the duo were grilled by teams comprising of IB, ATS and local police officials, the police on Tuesday, gave a written submission to the sub divisional magistrate North Goa, that their credentials were “genuine”.
“When they read ISIS, police were doubtful. later officials from the Special Branch, Anti-Terrorism Squad, Intelligence Bureau IB and local police collectively interrogated them,” Gaonkar said.
The duo, who were traveling in Goa with family, were in fact promoting a conclave of Salafi Muslims, which is scheduled to be held in Mangalore in Karnataka later this month and is expected to be attended by VIPS, including ministers from the Karnataka state government.
“We were analyzing the content of the pamphlets. It took us some time to find a translator and we also contacted the local police station where they hail from and the organizers of the conclave about their credentials,” Gaonkar also said.
“They are both brother in-laws and they were traveling along with their family in Goa. They had gone to Dona Paula for sight-seeing, when they were apprehended by the locals, who saw them with the pamphlets,” he said.
Goa was on high alert during the Christmas and New Year festivities, especially after Israel issued a travel advisory asking its nationals to remain alert especially in the Western Indian states.
“People were alert and therefore when someone say the word ISIS on the pamphlets, they informed us immediately. We acted only as a precautionary measure. Their arrest was preventive,” Gaonkar said.