NIA arrests absconding leader of ISIS Thrissur module from Tamil Nadu

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the absconding head of the ISIS Thrissur module in Chennai before he could execute his plan to flee the country via Nepal.

Siyed Nabeel Ahammed, the Ameer (leader) of Thrissur-based ISIS module, was apprehended by NIA’s fugitive tracking team, which had been tracking him for the past few weeks.

Ahammed, who was on the run, had been hiding out at various places in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for the past several weeks and had planned to escape abroad, using Nepal as a transit point, with the aid of forged & fraudulent documents.

Incriminating documents and digital devices have been seized from the possession of Ahammed, who is the third accused to be arrested since July in the case relating to ISIS activities in Kerala. In July this year, NIA had tracked and arrested one Ashif @ Mathilakath Kodayil Ashraf from his hideout near Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu.

NIA had, based on credible information in its possession, registered the case on July 11 this year, invoking various sections of IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Investigations revealed that the Thrissur-based IS module had allegedly been conspiring to commit terror acts in Kerala. It had been conducting recces for this purpose, and had also been raising funds for furthering ISIS activities by committing a series of illegal activities, including dacoities, in the state.

ISIS, a transnational Islamist terrorist group — also known as Islamic State (IS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its Arabic acronym Da’ish or Daesh — has intensified its activities in India by positioning modules in various states and actively recruiting vulnerable youth who subscribe to its jihadist philosophy.

NIA has cracked down on these modules in a big way and has arrested several IS members and cadres operating across states to thwart the proscribed organisation’s terror agenda, an NIA statement said on Wednesday.