1. ISIS link: NIA takes over missing cases in Kochi, 2. Case filed against Kerala school with links to IS men for teaching hate, 3. Kerala IS module bust: Jihadi propaganda active on social media, 4. Seven IS-inspired men held in Kerala had plans for a Nice-style attack

13/10/2016.
       781.
                All Members,
         Respected family members of this great holy Nation.
1.

Sub : ISIS link: NIA takes over missing cases in Kochi -

Ref : Media reports - DECCAN CHRONICLE.

NIA Kochi unit DSP Radhakrishna Pillai will head the probe team under the supervision of SP S. Rahul.

Kochi: The National Investigation Agency has taken over the probe into the alleged radicalisation bid on a Kochi youth and submitted an FIR before a special court here.

The NIA action followed an order from the Ministry of Home Affairs on September 19. The case was earlier registered by the Palarivattom police after the youth, Abin Jacob, 25, gave a statement to the police that he was forced to get converted to Islam and join the ISIS.

An FIR was submitted on September 24 naming Mumbai native Arshid Qureshi, 45, and Palakkad native Bestin Vincent, 23, aka Yahiya as the first and second accused. Though the state police had named Rizvan Khan, 53, of Kalyan, Mumbai, as third accused, the FIR by the NIA omitted his name.

The state police had arrested Qureshi, guest relation officer of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation, and his aide Khan from Kalyan in July last. The main accused are suspected to have IS links and admitted to have converted nearly 700 people, including Malayalis.

NIA Kochi unit DSP Radhakrishna Pillai will head the probe team under the supervision of SP  S. Rahul.

As per the NIA FIR, Qureshi and Bestin forced Abin and his sister Merin to get converted to Islam and instigated them to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a terrorist organisation. The alleged attempt had taken place between August and September 2014 when Abin visited Merin who was then working in Mumbai.

The NIA is already probing the missing cases of youths reported from Palakkad,  Kasargod and Nagapada in Mumbai.

2.

Sub : Case filed against Kerala school with links to IS men for teaching hate -

Ref : Media reports - Hindustan Times

The Kerala Police on Saturday filed a case against Peace Educational Foundation that runs a chain of schools in Kerala and neighbouring states for allegedly including objectionable study material in school curriculum aimed at disrupting communal harmony.

The educational group was under scanner after it came to light that some of the 21 missing persons from the state who were believed to have joined the Islamic State worked in schools run by the foundation. The case has been filed under Section 153 (A) of the IPC for promoting enmity between different groups, religion or race.

Police had raided the Peace International School in Ernakulam after they found that one of the missing persons Merin had taken class there. Similarly, Yasmin Ahmed who was arrested from Delhi airport two months ago before slipping out of the country worked as an English teacher with the Peace International School in Kotakkal in Malappuram district for two years. Yasmin was motivated by Abdul Rashid who was also missing along with his wife. Rashid was the public relations officer of the group until he vanished.

Later, the police had asked the education department to examine the syllabus of the school group. The department found that some of the study material/lessons were objectionable, lauding a single religion and putting others in bad light. Though the schools were affiliated with the CBSE they never followed its curriculum, it found.
Read | Man arrested in Kochi for collecting explosives for Islamic State

Founded in 2006 by a preacher MM Akbar, and run by Niche Group, an independent religious body aiming to propagate Islam, Peace International runs 10 schools in Kerala and one each in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Akbar is locally known as Kerala’s Zakir Naik, the Mumbai-based Islamic evangelist who is in the eye of storm. Faced with its links to those who disappeared, the school is battling to save its reputation and stay clear of trouble. It has disowned Rashid and others but many parents have already applied for transfer certificates for their children.

Besides Akbar the police are likely to question three businessmen who invested heavily in the group. However the school group denied any involvement with the missing and insisted that it was part of a “vilification campaign aimed to tarnish a reputed educational institution”.

Last week the National Investigation Agency had busted a Kerala module of IS and arrested six persons from north Kerala and four others from Tamil Nadu. A radical outfit, Popular Front of India, is also under watch list as two of the arrested were active workers of PFI.

3.

Sub : Kerala IS module bust: Jihadi propaganda active on social media

Ref : Media reports - Hindustan Times


Despite the arrest of key operatives of the Kerala module of the Islamic State (IS), its propaganda machinery is still active on social media.

There is no dearth of jihadi content in the web world, giving a clear indication that the organisation’s sleeper cells are still active.

The module’s Malayalam blog, Muhajirun, surfaced again and is getting updated every two hours. Intelligence agencies believe that Keralites working in the Middle East are maintaining the blog. The latest blog contains description of “true jihad and growing atrocities perpetrated on Muslim community” to drum up support.

The NIA had arrested six people from north Kerala and four others from different parts of Tamil Nadu last week.

“We have information that some Keralites working in the Gulf countries are updating the blog. We will seek the help of those countries to deport them. Since the blog is in Malayalam, it is difficult for these countries to decipher it,” said a senior police officer, citing last year’s deportation from UAE of five youth sympathetic to the IS.

Intelligence agencies are also collecting details of Malayalee youth missing from the Middle East. Fearing harassment, many families back home refuse to approach the police in case of disappearance.

In both cases — disappearance of 21 people and the latest IS module bust — the key operatives were reportedly indoctrinated while they were working abroad.
Read: Seven IS-inspired men held in Kerala had plans for a Nice-style attack

Manseed, leader of the busted module, was working in Qatar and returned to Kerala only ten days ago with his Filipino wife who converted from Christianity.

A close study of some of the cases indicates that most of the educated Kerala youth were weaned to terror networks once they went out for studies or work. Social media also played an important role in indoctrinating them. Intelligence agencies now fear that some members of the now defunct Indian Mujahideen might have joined the IS module. Intelligence officials said more arrests are likely in the coming days.

4.

Sub : Seven IS-inspired men held in Kerala had plans for a Nice-style attack -

Ref : Media reports - Hindustan Times

A group of Islamic radicals had allegedly planned to drive an explosive-laden vehicle into a gathering of religious leaders in Kerala after they were inspired by a similar attack in the French city of Nice, investigators said on Tuesday.

The seven people, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) two days ago from the state, had also drawn up a hit-list that included two high court judges, a well-known rationalist and RSS leaders of Kerala besides Jewish visitors to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu.

“We have taken note of the revelations made by the suspects, and have taken appropriate action,” Kerala director general of police Loknath Behera told HT.

The seven people, aged between 24 and 35, were allegedly radicalised by the ideology of the terror outfit Islamic State (IS), which has asked its followers across the world to carry out attacks on people they consider infidels.

The IS has overran vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and has been blamed for several terror attacks in Europe.

An Islamic State-inspired extremist drove a truck through a crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations at Nice on July 14 this year, killing at least 86 people.

Inspired by the carnage, the group had planned a similar attack on the all-religion Jamaat-e-Islami conference at Kochi last month. Several Hindu and Christian leaders were invited to the Kochi event.

Kerala police asked the organisers to move to a closed-door building at the last minute, potentially preventing a carnage. Investigators said a detailed interrogation of the suspects will reveal how close they were to implementing their plans.

The group had picked Justice KT Sankaran as a target because of his tough stand on terror and justice Pasha due to his progressive views. EA Jabbar’s credentials as a rationalist found him a place on the hit-list, investigators added.

The group is being questioned. Four other suspects from Coimbatore and one from Tirunelveli have also been placed under detention, a central counter-terror official said

Thank you for reading
           JAIHIND.
            To be continued...