The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has conducted searches at the houses of seven fugitive Keralites in Thrissur on Tuesday over the suspicion that they are members of a terror group named Jund Al Aqsa in Syria. The NIA officials conducted raids at the houses of Mohammed Faaz, Mohammed Ihthisham, Abdul Sameeh, Rayeez Rehiman, Nabeel Mohammed, Mohamed Shaheen, and Mohammed Ameer simultaneously. According to reports, the raids were carried out in connection with an ISIS funding case.
Four groups of NIA officials from Kochi began the search operations at around 5:30 am on Tuesday and it went on till 11:00 am.
An NIA release states, “During searches, nine mobile phones, fifteen SIM cards, one iPad, six laptops, three memory cards, and various documents were seized.”
The investigating agency has asked Mohammed Shaheen and Rayeez Rehiman to appear at the NIA’s Kochi office today. The duo, who were based in Qatar along with their families, were reportedly expelled from Qatar based on a tip-off that revealed that they had taken money from terror outfits following which an entry ban was also imposed.
Several youngsters from Kerala between the age group of 18-22 have been recruited into ISIS. The groups that had funded ISIS recruitments in Kerala belonged to various fundamental organisations. Earlier, in September, the probe agency had raided several locations in Kerala, West Bengal and arrested nine people linked with the Al Qaeda.
