Few Kerala residents have gone to Syria and joined ISIS: Sources

Earlier this year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two people in connection with the criminal conspiracy hatched within and outside India, with the intention of furthering the objectives of the Islamic State(IS) and for joining and supporting the organisation.

Accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla, a resident of Kasaragod district and Yasmeen Mohammad Zahid, a resident of Sitamarhi district, Bihar were booked under sections 120-B and 125 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides sections 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.

The NIA probe has established that accused Abdul Rashid was the main conspirator behind the offence of motivating youth, hailing from Kasaragod district to exit from India along with their families, to join the terrorist organisation.

According to officials, Rashid had conducted classes at Kasaragod and other places in support of the terrorist organisation and its ideology of violent jihad.

He motivated another set of 14 co-conspirators, including another arrested, accused Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid, to join the proscribed organisation and plan for Hijrah to the Caliphate announced by the ISIS.

The investigation revealed that the conspiracy had been in operation for the month of July 2015.

Zahid was intercepted at the New Delhi International Airport on July 30, 2016, while she was trying to exit India for Kabul, Afghanistan, along with her minor child, with the intention of joining her co-conspirator Abdul Rashid, in the territory under the control of ISIS in Afghanistan.

According to the investigation conducted by the agency, it has established that Rasheed had raised funds for the terrorist organisation and transferred such funds to Yasmeen, who utilised it for her activities with the intention of supporting the terrorist organisation.