Two more persons suspected to have links with the Islamic State (IS) were arrested here on Thursday, raising the number of the arrested to five. The arrested have been identified as U.K. Hamza, 57, and Manaf Rahman, 45, both natives of Thalassery here. Hamza has already been identified by the police as the main source of inspiration for the radicalised Muslims youths who have joined the IS. On Wednesday, the police team led by Kannur Deputy Superintendent of Police P.P. Sadanandan had arrested three youths for their suspected involvement in the IS. They were K.C. Midhilaj, 26; M.P. Rashid, 23; both natives of Mundery here, and Abdul Razakh K., 24, of Chekkikkulam here.
Remanded
All the five were arrested under Sections 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on charges of having links with the banned terrorist organisation. They were produced at the Principal Sessions Court in Thalassery on Thursday. They have been remanded in custody for 14 days.
Mr. Sadanandan told The Hindu that though Hamza had no formal education, he was well-versed in the Islamic scripture, including the Koran and Hadith. He had been working in the Gulf region for over 20 years and returned to his native place a few years ago.
He had also gone to Switzerland and Austria while in the Gulf, he said. Manaf Rahman had decided to go to Syria to fight for IS after he came under the spell of Hamza, he added.
Both Hamza and Manaf Rahman had planned to go to Syria. Hamza was to leave for Syria after Manaf landed there, the police said. Their plan had been foiled when Manaf was stopped at the Mangaluru airport by Central agencies around six months ago. Since then, both had been under police surveillance here. According to police officers, all the arrested, except Manaf Rahman, had showed no distress over their arrest in connection with their suspected IS links. Manaf, father of four young children, however, was repentant about his ‘past’ links with the IS, they said.
Manaf was engaged in business at Thalassery, the police added. Meanwhile, the police conducted raids on the houses of the arrested in the morning. The Chakkarakkal police said that they could not find any suspicious items from the house, except a few Turkish currency notes, from the house of Midhilaj.
