It is going to be a quiet Eid for the families of four Muslim youth who are believed to have travelled to Iraq in May to join the jihadist group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. While investigating agencies are yet to confirm if they did join the insurgents, their families refuse to believe it.
Aarif Majid, Fahad Shaikh, Aman Tandel and Saleem Tanki from Kalyan in Thane took an Etihad flight for Baghdad on a pilgrimage with 40 others on May 25.
On May 31, a taxi dropped them at Mosul, which fell to the ISIS on June 10.
“We feel so dejected and helpless. The last phone call we received was on June 7. We are worried about their safety,” said Iftekar Shaikh, uncle of Fahad Shaikh.
“My nephew was a namazi and benevolent by nature. He cannot be a jihadi ,” he added. The police started probing the possibility of their recruitment by ISIS on the basis of a letter written by Aman Tandel to his father before he left.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has not made any major headway in the case, a senior police officer told The Hindu on condition of anonymity. The official said there were clues that the youth had been indoctrinated online.
