The Hyderabad Police has arrested a US-trained engineer, who was allegedly flying to Syria via Dubai to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to the police source 22-year-old Salman Moinuddin, a resident of Asifnagar area in Hyderabad, was detained on Thursday at Shamshabad International airport when he was going to board the Dubai-bound flight.
Police sources said that Salman who holds a masters degree in Engineering from Houston in the United States, was under the watch of Intelligence agencies for his suspected contacts with ISIS. Sources said that Salman admitted that he was to travel to Syria via Turkey after joining a British woman Nicky Joseph, alias Ayesha in Dubai.
This is second incident of police in Hyderabad detaining youth trying to go to join ISIS. Earlier, Hyderabad police had detained two Maharashtra youth Shah Mudassir and Shoaib Ahmad Khan from Maharashtra while they were planning to go to abroad. Four other local youth affected by the ISIS propaganda were also counseled and de-radicalised, Telangana director general of police Anurag Sharma said.
Police sources said that Salman had come in touch with the British national Nicky Joseph while working in the United States. She was reportedly married to a UK-based doctor. He had returned to India after US authorities refused to extend his visa in October last. “Both Salman and Nicky were following the activities and developments related to ISIS and had created Facebook groups with pseudo names,” said a police official.
The sources described Nicky, who converted to Islam, as a woman with fundamentalist leanings. The couple was trying to recruit the likeminded people to join ISIS. He was also trying to attract Indian youth towards ISIS and planned to take them to Syria via Turkey.
Cyberabad Police, in whose jurisdiction Salman was arrested, has booked a case under Information Technology Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. A Press note of Cyberabad police said that Salman had intended to undergo armed training in Syria and on return indulge in anti-national activities in the country. Police recovered some electronic gadgets from him.