Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), investigating the alleged recruitment of Tabrez Tambe by the Islamic State (IS), is finding out whether the countrywide raids by the ATS and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), spurred him and his friend Ali Al Shahri to leave India in January this year.
Tambe from Ratnagiri, who used to stay with his brother Soud in Mumbra, left in January telling his brother that he had got a job in Egypt. He was later learned to have joined the IS in Libya along with Al Shahri, a friend that he had made while working in Riyadh. Al Shahri had earlier visited Tambe’s Mumbra residence and had stayed over for a few days, and the duo are suspected to have left together.
In January, the ATS and the NIA had arrested over 20 members of Junood-al-Khalifa-e-Hind, the Army of the Caliph in India. The arrests were made all over the country, including one in Mumbai and one in Mumbra.
“Inquiries found that the duo travelled to several locations from Egypt, including Khartoum in Sudan and Dar-ed-Salaam in Tanzania, over the past one year, before reaching Libya. However, they seemed to have been in a hurry to leave India. We are finding out whether the joint raids influenced their decision,” a source said.
The ATS is making inquiries with Soud and other members of the Tambe family to find out if Tabrez was disturbed or otherwise affected by the news of the raids, and whether he had discussed it with his family members. Inquiries are also under way to find out whether Tabrez and Mudabbir Sheikh, the Mumbra resident, who was arrested in the joint raids, knew each other, and Mudabbir’s friends and family members are being quizzed.
