In a startling revelation, the NIA has said that ISIS operative Subahani Haja Moideen (31), a native of Thodupuzha in Kerala held from Thirunalveli in Tamil Nadu, had fought alongside the ISIS in Iraq last year.
The ISIS operative, who also used to go by the name of Abu Meer, was reportedly taken into custody on Monday, within 24 hours of the arrest of six operatives of the ISIS unit in Kerala, Ansarul Khilafa, from Kannur and Kozhikode on Sunday.
As per an NIA release, Subahani was arrested on Wednesday for joining and supporting the ISIS, proscribed under the UAPA. He was produced before the Special NIA Court in Kochi on Thursday. The court left him in the custody of the NIA for nine days.
According to the NIA, Subahani himself had revealed during questioning that he had left the country from Chennai on April 8 last year for joining the ISIS and fighting for it after telling his wife and parents that he was going to perform Umrah. He was radicalised and recruited into the outfit by recruiters active on social media platforms, the agency said in the release.
After reaching Istanbul from Chennai on a visit visa, Subahani, along with people from Pakistan and Afghanistan, crossed over to ISIS-controlled territories in Iraq. On April 20, 2015, he was taken to Mosul where he was given detailed lessons in Shari’a and training in combat, including that in automatic weapons, according to the NIA.
On completion of the combat training, the ISIS commanders sent him to the war zone in Mosul on security duty for which he was paid a subsistence allowance of US$ 100 a month and was given common accommodation and food, the NIA said, adding that he had performed the security duty for two weeks.
However, Subahani soon decided to leave the terror outfit as the sights of violence and war misery disgusted him, especially after two of his friends were charred to death in a shell attack in front of him. When he conveyed his decision to the organisation, it imprisoned him, reportedly for 55 days, and subjected him to extreme torture.
He, along with other deserting foreign fighters, was produced before an ISIS judge and was again incarcerated at Raqqa, Syria, the agency said, adding that “for reasons yet to be ascertained” he was allowed to leave the ISIS-controlled territory and return to Turkey with five other foreign nationals.
As per reports, the ISIS commanders had allowed Subahani to leave on the condition that he would work for expanding the terror outfit’s network in India. The release said that he stayed in Istanbul illegally for two weeks before approaching the Indian consulate for papers for returning to India.
He contacted his relatives who sent money to him for buying air tickets and with the necessary clearance certificates obtained reportedly by presenting concocted stories he landed in Mumbai on September 22 last year. After return, he had been staying at his ancestral place in Kadayanellur in Thirunalveli, Tamil Nadu till the day he was taken into custody.
The NIA said that after getting settled in India, he had got in touch with the ISIS handlers through internet and planned to collect explosives and chemicals from Sivakasi as per their instructions.
He had also travelled to places like Chennai and Coimbatore for meeting local contacts in conspiracy, collect money and explosives for terror acts within the country, the agency said.
Sources said that the NIA was now examining whether Subahani had been in contact with the six Ansarul Khilafa operatives arrested from Kanakamala in Kannur and Kuttyadi in Kozhikode on Sunday. Five of these six Kerala ISIS men had met at Kanakamala reportedly to plan terror acts in South India.