Indian authorities are investigating a former Bahraini resident for allegedly running an Islamic State (IS) module that recruited and radicalized individuals through social media. In a high-level probe, the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided five locations – three in Indian union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and two in Karnataka.
According to Indian media reports, seven people have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, including a former Bahrain resident named Mohammed Ameen alias Abu Yahya from Kerala. Two other suspects were identified as Mushab Anuvar and Dr Rahees Rashid, while four more were not named. The group has been accused of being part of a sleeper cell led by Mr Ameen, who was arrested in Delhi in March.
‘The raid relates to terrorist activities of Mohammed Ameen, who had returned to India from Bahrain in the wake of the fall of IS caliphate in Syria and Iraq, with a view to developing a local network by radicalizing and enrolling vulnerable youths from Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Karnataka,’ the Times of India reported yesterday. He had camped in Delhi for two months before he was arrested in March this year. He reportedly had connections with terror operatives in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the report, Mr. Ameen visited Kashmir for religious purposes after returning to Bahrain but allegedly engaged in terrorist acts. As part of a larger conspiracy to kill certain individuals in Kerala and Karnataka, Mr. Ameen allegedly raised funds along with the other accused. The media report stated, ‘The searches on Wednesday were conducted at the premises of the accused, who were continuously in touch with Mohammed Ameen and his associations through encrypted chat platforms and raised funds for Islamic State activities’.
In May 2019, the GDN reported that Indian officials were investigating their nationals working in Bahrain and other Gulf states who were joining or attempting to join Da’esh militants. Earlier this year, details emerged of a former Bahrain resident’s attempts to travel to Syria to fight for Da’esh or IS. Shaibu Nihar, 39, a resident of Kozhikode in Kerala, was arrested in 2019 after arriving from Qatar. During an interview with the NIA, he revealed that he and seven other Bahrain residents planned to join Da’esh and regularly visited Al Ansar Centre, a religious education institute in Manama.
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The controversial centre was shut down after it was revealed that Da’esh sympathisers frequented it. Several Indian intelligence agencies announced in 2017 that four of the five Indians killed fighting for the IS in Syria were former Bahrain residents. Identified fighters included Sibi from Palakkad district in Kerala, Muhadis from Malappuram district, Mansoor (Senior), Mansoor (Junior) and Shanad.
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