A Tamil Nadu resident has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly conspiring to collect chemical explosives from cracker manufacturers in Tamil Nadu and carry out terror activities in the country.
He was under the watch of security agencies for a year after he returned from Mosul, Iraq, where he fought in the war zone for the Islamic State (IS).
Subahani Haja Moideen (31), a resident of Tirunelveli, was arrested by the NIA on Wednesday in connection with a case related to activities of the banned Islamic State in India.
Unlike Maharashtra resident Areeb Majeed, who fled from Syria after he was injured during an attack and was subsequently arrested during his return to India, security agencies did not immediately put Moideen under arrest and decided to keep him under watch instead.
The accused was radicalised and recruited in the IS through social media platforms. He left India for Istanbul from Chennai in April 2015 on the pretext of performing ‘Umrah’, the NIA said in a statement on Thursday.
After reaching Istanbul, he crossed over along with other people who hailed from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iraqi territory under the control of the IS.
From there, he was taken to Mosul where he underwent detailed ‘religious training’ followed by combat training, which included a course in automated weapons before being deputed to fight in the war for almost two weeks.
During the war, he told interrogators, he was paid $100 a month as an allowance by the IS, besides accommodation and food.
However, he told the interrogators that he could not withstand the violence and war misery in Mosul and decided to leave, especially after he saw two of his friends getting charred during shelling.
“When he conveyed his decision to quit the organisation, he was imprisoned by the IS at Mosul and was subjected to extreme torture. He, along with other similar deserting foreign fighters, was produced before a judge of the IS, following which he was again imprisoned at Raqqa in Syria. Later, for reasons yet to be ascertained, he was allowed to leave the IS-controlled territory and return to Turkey along with five other foreign nationals,” said a NIA spokesperson.
He arrived in Mumbai after a gap of six months in September 2015 on an emergency certificate and returned to his ancestral place where he was staying with his wife and managed to get a job at a jewellery shop in Kadayanallur.
“However, once back and settled, he again got in touch with the IS handlers over the Internet and was planning to collect explosives and precursor chemicals from Sivakasi at their instance,” the NIA spokesperson said.
“He had travelled to Chennai, Coimbatore and other places to meet other local contacts in the conspiracy, collect money and procure explosives for terrorist acts as guided and motivated by the IS handlers,” the NIA spokesperson said.
