Total IS sympathizers/recruits = 261 [Arrested 113
(6 – 2014, 19 – 2015, 54 – 2016, 34 – 2017), Detained 60 (9 – 2014,
31 – 2015, 8 – 2016, 12 - 2017), and those who have travelled to Syria
and Iraq, 88 [Out of 88 who have travelled, 25 have been killed].
(Data till December 31, 2017)
Arrests/Detention
in India
2014
[Total Arrests – 6 persons (4 arrested from Maharashtra,
1 each from Karnataka and Hyderabad), Total Detained – 9 persons (4
from West Bengal, 3 from Tamil Nadu, 2 from Jharkhand)]
August 3: Police detained two youth, M Abdul Rahman
and Rilvan from Thondi in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu after
a photo of a group of youth wearing the t-shirts printed with slogans
supporting IS surfaced on a social networking site.
August 6: Police detained a man, identified as S Faizur
Rahman from Tiruppur District of Tamil Nadu on charges of ordering
and procuring t-shirts printed with slogans supporting IS.
August 13: Two unidentified youths were arrested by
Mumbai (Maharashtra) Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS). They were suspected
to have fought for IS in Syria
September 4: Four Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) youths,
all engineering students in their early 20s, were detained in West
Bengal allegedly in the process of leaving India to join the IS.
October 18: The ATS of the Mumbai Police arrested
a terror suspect, identified as Anis Ansari (24), a software engineer
who was allegedly planning to blow up American organizations including
the American School at BKC in Mumbai. Officials of the ATS said that
the accused, who had allegedly opened fictitious accounts on a social
networking site, had allegedly mentioned about 'carrying out a blast
on American organizations in Mumbai' in chats with some Shakeel Ahmed.
Anis Ansari was an IS sympathiser. The Police have also found that
Ansari used to listen to speeches of international terrorists on YouTube.
October 28: A former Google employee, Munawad Salman,
hailing from Tamil Nadu who was allegedly plotting to join the IS
ranks in Iraq, has been arrested by Hyderabad Police.
November 5: Two persons, Shakir Rashid and Mohammed
Javed Rashid, were detained for questioning after their T-shirts had
inscription of terror outfit IS in Dhanbad District of Jharkhand.
November 28: Areeb Majeed, the Kalyan (Thane District,
Maharashtra)) youth who joined IS was arrested while returning to
India and will be produced in a local court on November 29. "I
went to Iraq to serve a larger cause," Aarif Majeed, stated.
December 13: Police arrested Mehdi Masroor Biswas,
an engineer by training and an executive in an Indian multinational
company, accused of being the key voice of the IS on Twitter
from his residence in Jalahalli in north Bengaluru in Karnataka. A
Bengali-speaker from Kolkata, Biswas owned @ShamiWitness, a Twitter
account that propagated the violent ideology of the IS. Police described
him as a radical ideologue of the jihadi cause, who reportedly told
interrogators, "India does not have real Muslims capable of jihad".
A senior Police officer who interrogated him said Biswas supported
IS because he felt they were fighting "the real war".
2015
[Total Arrests – 19 persons (6 arrested from Maharashtra,
5 from Madhya Pradesh, 5 from Rajasthan, 2 from Hyderabad, 1 from
Delhi), Total Detained – 31 persons (14 from Hyderabad, 9 from Karnataka,
6 from Kerala, 2 from Maharashtra)]
January 16: The Hyderabad Police arrested a 32-year-old
US-returned engineering graduate, identified as Salman Moinuddin at
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Hyderabad) while he was allegedly
on his way to Syria to join IS along with his girlfriend, who is based
in Dubai. Police said that Salman Moinuddin, the would-be militant,
is also an active recruiter for IS. Counter-Intelligence wing of the
Telangana State Intelligence said they had been tracking Moinuddin
through his online activities and nabbed him no sooner did he land
at the airport. It were the central intelligence agencies that had
tipped off the state officials about Moinuddin, they added. According
to Police, Moinuddin had planned to join his girlfriend Ayesha in
Dubai from where they were to proceed to Syria via Turkey and establish
links with IS militants.
January 31: Nine persons from Bengaluru, who arrived
in Istanbul (Turkey) on December 24, 2014, have been deported by Turkish
authorities after they were allegedly caught trying to cross over
to Syria to join the IS. The group is being questioned by Bengaluru
Police and central agencies after they arrived at the Kempegowda International
Airport (KIA). According to Police, they went to Istanbul from Bengaluru
on tourist visas on December 24, 2014, and were sent back by the Turkish
authorities on January 30, 2015. Among those sent back from Turkey
are engineers Ibrahim Nowfal, 24, from Hassan and Javeed Baba, 24,
from Khammam District in Telangana. The remaining seven belonged to
a family from Chennai (Tamil Nadu) - Muhammed Abdul Ahad, 46, his
wife and their five children. Police said Ahad has done masters in
computer science from Kennedy-Western University, California, US,
and worked in the US for more than ten years.
April 15: Five persons from Madhya Pradesh, identified
as Imran Khan Muhammad Sharif, Wasim Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Anwar
and Mazhar arrested from the town of Ratlam (Ratlam District) were
part of an IS-linked jihad cell planning strikes in India. Imran Khan
Muhammad Sharif, the leader of the five accused is alleged to have
been recruited online by an Indian jihadist he knew as “Yusuf” — code,
investigators say, for Karnataka-born Muhammad Shafi Armar, a fugitive
IM operative now leading group of Indians fighting with the IS.
May 5: Fourteen students, who were en route to Syria
and Iraq to join IS, were stopped at Hyderabad airport. The state
as well as central intelligence agencies started verification of students
with suspicious links after an engineering student, Mohammed Atif
Waseem from Hyderabad, who joined IS, died fighting in Syria. The
Intelligence Bureau has launched 'Operation Chakravyuh' to counsel
the youth who try to get recruited in the terror group IS.
September 1: Two youth from Kerala have been deported
by the UAE after they posted pro-IS comments on Facebook. Sources
said that the Facebook posts indicated that they had been "radicalized."
The two men are reportedly part of a group of 10 Indians being monitored
closely in the UAE for sharing terror group Islamic State's propaganda
on social media. The UAE has sent the two men back to India, but has
not registered cases against them. It has also not revealed their
names citing security reasons.
September 10: Intelligence agencies in Hyderabad arrested
an Indian woman, identified as Afsa Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph soon
after she was deported from UAE for being allegedly involved in recruiting
online for the IS. Afsha Jabeen has been posing as a British national
while trying to lure young men and women through the social media
into joining IS, sources said. Afsha, who hails from Hyderabad, was
taken into custody at the airport after being deported along with
husband and children. The arrest followed nine months of intense surveillance
mounted on her in India, UAE and Britain.
September 14: Four youth of Kerala origin, reportedly
sympathizers of IS have been deported from the UAE. While two youth
were sent to Thiruvananthapuram the other two were detained at Kozhikode.
This is the second incident of sympathizers of the IS being deported
in two weeks.
September 25-November 1: On the day of Bakr-id, September
25, one Abdul Malik (20), an unemployed youth from Pusad village in
Yavatmal District (Maharashtra), repeatedly stabbed a constable after
offering namaz at a local mosque. The constable was on duty,
posted outside the mosque. He survived the attack. Malik allegedly
also attacked two more constables who tried to intervene. Malik was
immediately arrested by the local Police. Two days after his arrest,
suspecting a larger angle of radicalisation at play, the state’s counter
terrorism agency stepped in and took his custody. On October 22, Shoeb
Ahmed Khan alias Pusad Shoeb alias Tariq Bhai (24) was
arrested from Hingoli in Hingoli District of Maharashtra in the case.
On November 1, Maharashtra ATS of Nanded and Akola, in a joint operation,
arrested a young religious preacher (Maulana), identified as Hafiz
Mujibar Rehman alias Salim Malik for allegedly involved in
indoctrinating youths to join the jihad or holy war through
social media and sermons from Mendhiya masjid of Pusad in Yavatmal
District. Sources from the intelligence wing said Maulana Rehman's
name had cropped up in the interrogation of Abdul Malik alias
Abdul Razzaq. These three arrested persons were reportedly part of
a six youths module, based in Yavatmal District, had been brainwashed
to join the IS."The group planned to first send Khan to IS. He
would go and evaluate the situation and if things were fine, he would
request his commanders to arrange for the smuggling out of more youths,"
said an unnamed officer. Khan has told the Police that in case of
failure to join the IS, the group had kept the option of joining the
Taliban in Afghanistan open.
December 10: One Mohammad Sirajuddin was arrested
by Rajasthan ATS on charges of “working for the Islamic State”, publicizing
its ideology online and via social media, and “instigating youth to
join IS”. Mohammad, posted as a marketing manager at Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) in Jaipur, according to ATS sources had been propagating “IS
ideology” via his Facebook page, which had about 1,00,000 followers
and was blocked following his arrest. “He was in touch with some youths
from Maharashtra and a girl from Hyderabad. We tracked him after we
got information about suspicious activities on his computer’s IP address,”
sources said.
December 11: The 23-year-old software engineer from
Tamil Nadu who was detained and later deported from Sudan for trying
to join IS had worked for eight months in an IT company in Chennai.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Mohammed Nasir soon
after he landed at Delhi airport. He hails from Tirunelveli District
(Tamil Nadu) but had worked in Chennai and Dubai. He was living with
his parents in Dubai when he tried to join the terror outfit. A Police
officer said, "Investigation with his relatives showed that he
had spent time in Chennai working before moving to UAE. His expertise
was in managing database."
December 12: Police arrested at least four men for
allegedly shouting pro-IS slogans during a rally in the Tonk District
of Rajasthan. The four accused have been identified as Firoz, Wasim,
Wasim Akram and Mohammad Fahid, all of whom are reportedly aged 25-32
years. The arrested were reportedly shouting the pro-IS slogans along
with several others in the Malpura town on December 11. "The
accused shouted slogans at a rally on Friday. They were identified
on the basis of video footage and were named in an FIR. Some other
accused are unidentified and the matter is being investigated,"
according to investigating officer.
December 17: A 16-year-old girl from Pune (Maharashtra)
who was apparently radicalized by her IS contacts abroad and brainwashed
to go to Syria, has been questioned by ATS and sent to a de-radicalisation
programme, an ATS officer said. “The girl was interrogated by the
ATS last week after monitoring her movements for many days on getting
information about her. It confirmed her initiation by the IS…The interrogation
of the girl revealed that she was ready to go to any extent to carry
out the IS directive,” Pune ATS officer Bhanupratap Barge stated.
The girl is now undergoing a de-radicalisation programme with the
help of her family members and community religious leaders, who are
fully cooperating with us, he said.
December 24: Noor Mohammed, part of the trio suspected
to have left home at Malwani near Malad (Mumbai) on December 15 to
join the IS, returned home and was picked up for questioning. Mohsin
Sayyed, who's still missing, has been tracked to the outskirts of
Maharashtra and an ATS team is out to intercept him, said sources.
The third youth, Wajid Shaikh, was detained by the ATS in Pune and
returned home on December 23. The ATS has said Shaikh did not seem
to have been in touch with IS but was in contact with persons who
were trying to indoctrinate him. The security agencies are now worried
about Ayaz Sultan, another youth who slipped away from his Malwani
home on October 30, 2015, and went to Afghanistan. Shaikh has told
the ATS Sultan used to show them documents and videos of IS.
December 26: Three ‘aspiring’ jihadists, Abdul Wasim,
Umar Hasan Farooqui and Majh Hasan Farooque from Hyderabad, all final
year students, were arrested on their way to join IS in Afghanistan
in an early-dawn operation jointly conducted by the Telangana Police
and Maharashtra ATS at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar international airport
in Nagpur (Maharashtra). Its learnt that operatives, in their 20s,
were supposed to board an Indigo flight to Srinagar from Nagpur airport
after arriving here from Hyderabad a day before by road. Out of three,
two were intercepted earlier also on their way to Afghanistan by the
intelligence agencies.
2016
[Total Arrests – 54 persons (11 from Telangana, 7
from Maharashtra, 6 each from Kerala, Karnataka and Delhi, 5 from
Tami Nadu, 4 each from West Bengal and Uttarakhand, 2 from UP, 1 each
from Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Himachal Pradesh), Total Detained –
8 persons (7 from Telangana and 1 from Maharashtra) ]
January 19: Acting on a tip off that terrorists are
planning to target the ongoing Ardh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar (Uttarakhand),
the Special Cell of Delhi Police in a joint operation with a central
intelligence agency arrested four suspected terrorists for their suspected
links with IS from different areas in Uttarakhand. While one person,
identified as Akhlaq ur-Rehman, who is said to be associated with
an international terror group, was arrested from Roorkee (Uttarakhand),
the remaining three, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mehroz
were arrested from Mangalaur area near Dehradun (Uttarkhnad).
January 21: A person who was in constant touch with
the four suspects who were arrested for planning a terror attack in
Haridwar and Delhi, has been arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi
Police.
January 22-23: In a major crackdown by the NIA and
state Police forces ahead of Republic Day (January 26), 14 men who
were allegedly “radicalised online” were detained for interrogation,
in Mumbai (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), Bangalore, Tumkur
Mangalore (Karnataka), and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). They had formed
Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind, a terror group with similar ideology that
of IS. Those arrested included three from Mumbai; four each from Hyderabad
and Bangalore; and one each from Manglore, Tumkur and Lucknow.
January 26: Two people with suspected links with IS
have been detained in two separate incidents from Hyderabad and Maharashtra.
The two, whose names have been withheld, were being questioned by
a joint team of intelligence agencies. NIA claimed that the accused
were regularly in touch with active members of IS in Syria through
Internet chatting via ‘Skype’, ‘Signal’ and ‘Trillion’ and were also
using the social networking sites to motivate young men to join the
feared terror outfit which has captured vast swathes in Syria and
Iraq.
January 29: The NIA arrested three suspected IS propagandists
and recruiters, who were deported from the UAE on January 28, in New
Delhi. The arrested men have been identified as Sheikh Azhar al Islam
Abdul Sattar Sheikh (hails from Jammu and Kashmir), Mohd Farhan Rafiq
Shaikh (hails from Maharashtra) and Adnan Hussain (hails from Karnataka).
The three are wanted for conspiracy to identify, motivate, recruit
and train Indians, both in India and abroad, for terror attacks. They
were arrested by NIA after questioning. They were working with IS’s
Abu Dhabi module.
February 1: The NIA arrested a 24-year-old terror
suspect, identified as Azhar Iqbal from Putli Ghar area of Bhopal
as part of the agency’s crackdown on alleged sympathisers of IS. A
resident of Barkheda in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen District, Iqbal was
said to be hiding in the residence of one Laik Ahmed before NIA sleuths
apprehended him, sources said.
February 4: The Delhi Police Special Cell arrested
a 28-year-old man from Mumbai, identified as Mohsin Ibrahim Sayyed
with suspected IS links from ISBT at Kashmere Gate in Delhi. Some
cash, purportedly channelised through Hawala route, was recovered
from his possession. Mohsin had received money from Muttabir Mustaq
Sheikh who belongs to Thane and is the self-proclaimed Indian ‘amir
(Chief)’ of Ansar-ul-Tawhid (AuT) that has pledged allegiance to the
IS group in India, said an unnamed senior Police officer. He is accused
of providing financial help to the four Roorkee youths arrested by
the Cell in January 2016, the Police said. The youths, also accused
of having links with IS, were allegedly planning to carry out a terror
attack during Ardh Kumbh in Haridwar.
February 5: The NIA arrested one person, identified
as Abdus Sami Qasmi, a resident of Seelampur in Delhi, from Hardoi
in Hardoi District of Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly instigating and
motivating youth across the country to form a terror outfit inspired
by IS for carrying out jihadi attacks across the country.
February 6: A suspected IS operative, identified as
Suman Aziz Laskar was arrested at Silchar Medical College (SMC) in
Cachar District of Assam.
February 23: NIA arrested one person, identified as
19 year old Asif Ahmad alias Raju Das, from Durgapur in Bardhaman
District of West Bengal on suspicions of having links with the IS.
It is believed the youth was part of a network that helped plan terror
strikes across India and ran an online training module. Acknowledging
the youth’s detention, NIA’s IG Sanjeev Singh said agency and state
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials, acting on a tip-off,
reached Durgapur on February 23 and detained Asif. “He is presently
under questioning. He is suspected of having links with IS. He used
to stay in a rented accommodation in Durgapur under an alias,” Singh
said. Officials added that Asif’s father Ishaq was also detained and
the two are being questioned at the agency’s office in Kolkata.
June 29: The NIA detained 11 people with suspected
links to IS from Hyderabad. Explosives and ammunition has been recovered
in the raids. The action was taken based on inputs from the IB. Five
were arrested and six others were detained by NIA which claimed to
have neutralised IS terror module after conducting searches at different
locations in the old city in Hyderabad. "We have arrested five
accused persons so far. Questioning and verification of the role of
remaining six suspects are going on," an NIA statement said.
The NIA officials also recovered weapons, ammunition, urea, acid,
some chemicals, electronic gadgets and other incriminating material
besides INR 15,00,000 in cash from their possession, officials of
NIA and Hyderabad Police said, adding the youths were working at the
behest of IS handlers
July 5: Mosiruddin alias Mosi alias Majnu was
arrested by NIA from Viswabharati Fast Passenger train at Burdwan
in West Bengal. Based on his statement that his family was running
provision stores in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu for the last six years,
the sleuths visited the stores and their residence, Police said.
July 6: Two IS operatives, identified as Saddam Hossain
alias Kallu, and Mohammed Abbasuddin alias Amin were
arrested from Labhpur in Birbhum District. The two were allegedly
recruited by Mosiruddin, another IS operative arrested a day earlier.
July 12: The NIA officials arrested two more youths,
identified as Ataullah Rehman and Yasser Naimathullah, on the charge
of aiding and abetting the five suspects arrested earlier (on June
29 ) in connection with IS’s module from Quba colony of Bandlaguda
and Darogh Lane of Moghalpura in Hyderabad City. They were presented
before the Special Court for NIA cases in Nampally in Hyderabad and
remanded in judicial custody.
July 21: Kerala Police arrested 45-year-old Arshid
Qureshi, a public relation manager with controversial preacher Dr
Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), from Navi Mumbai for
allegedly radicalising youth and recruiting them to IS.
July 22: A team of Kerala Police and the Maharashtra
ATS arrested a man, identified as Rizwan Khan from Kalyan in Thane
District for being part of a group that allegedly radicalised and
recruited youth to undertake terrorist activities in the name of IS.
August 2: A radicalised Kerala schoolteacher, Yasmin
Ahamd (29) who was arrested at Delhi airport before she could board
a flight to Kabul has revealed that IS is now running "terror
classes" in the country.
August 7: The Maharashtra ATS arrested Iqbal Ahmed
Kabir Ahmed (28) in its ongoing crackdown against alleged IS)recruits,
in Parbhani District. Iqbal is alleged to be a part of the “Parbhani
module” that, as sources had claimed, were planning to carry out an
attack on the Aurangabad (Maharashtra) ATS unit.
October 2: The NIA neutralised an IS inspired module
from Kerala and Tamil Nadu as it arrested six youngsters who were
reportedly planning to carry out terror attacks in the country. The
arrest was made during the agency’s ongoing investigation into the
disappearance of 21 people from Kerala who were suspected to have
joined the IS. Those arrested have been identified as Manseed alias
Omar Al Hindi, Abu Basheer alias Rashid, Swalih Mohammed T
alias Yousuf, Safwan P, Jasim NK and Ramshad Nageelan Kandiyil
alias Aaamu from Kozhikode and Kannur Districts of Kerala.
Five of them were arrested when they were allegedly conducting a meeting
at Kanakamala hilltop in Kannur District OF Kerala. During subsequent
searches, another person was detained from Kuttiyadi in Kozhikode
District and later arrested.
October 3: The NIA detained a person from Tamil Nadu
in its probe into IS modules in south India.
October 5: The NIA has arrested a Tamil Nadu based
man who had joined IS, fought alongside the so called caliphate for
several months in Iraq and Syria and returned to India to carry out
attacks in India. The suspect, Subhani Haji Moideen alias Abu
Meer (31), who hails from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, sources say,
stayed in Syria and Iraq for almost four to five months, met senior
leadership there and fought with the allied forces and rebels. Official
sources say Meer also came in touch with latest IS module led by Majeed
alias Omar al-Hindi and is being questioned about his links.
October 12: Following NIA inquiry, at least three
people suspected to have links with the IS have been picked up in
Coimbatore. According to reports, the three suspects have been taken
to Kerala, where already six other suspected IS were arrested. This
new development has come after an NIA search operation for the suspected
IS people. The inquiry was on for the past 11 days where search was
on for 15 youngsters. And now, out of those 15, three have been picked
up by the Police. As per reports, some alleged IS recruitment cells
are running as sleeper cells in the country where investigation agencies
are always in constant hunt to nab such people, in order to eliminate
their anti-national activities.
December 14: Mahrashtra ATS is finding out bank account
details of Tabrez Tambe, a suspected member of IS held in Libya, and
his close relatives to find out the nature of transactions, if any.
Meanwhile, the agency has confirmed that Tabrez's friend Ali who had
indoctrinated him, is a Saudi national. Tabrez, a resident of Mumbra
in neighbouring Thane District, was caught last week in Libya, where
he had joined IS with Ali. According to ATS officials, the agency
has written to Central government seeking more information about Tabrez
and his activities in the oil-rich country and the exact role he might
have played for the terror group.
December 17: A team of the NIA arrested a 23-year-old
youth Abid Khan from a church in Banjar town in Kullu District of
Himachal Pradesh for allegedly being an IS sympathizer. Sources said
that Khan a resident of Bengaluru (Karnataka) was living in a church
for the last six months. He was staying here under a fake identity
of Paul and was working as a helper. A mobile phone and a laptop were
recovered from his possession. Kullu Superintendent of Police Padam
Chand, confirming Khan’s arrest said that it was a joint operation
of NIA with Kullu Police. “Khan was planning to reach Syria via Indonesia
and had recently visited Sri Lanka. We have registered against him.’’
2017
[Total Arrests - 34 (6 from {UP & Madhya Pradesh},
6 from Kerala, 5 from Delhi, 4 each from UP and Gujarat, 2 each from
Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, 1 each from Punjab, Telangana
and Tamil Nadu), Total Detained - 12 persons (5 from Tamil Nadu, 3
from Telangana and 2 each from J&K and Madhya Pradesh]
January 2: Two persons hailing from Kerala's Kasaragod
District were arrested near Panaji, while canvassing for a convention
of Salafi Muslims scheduled to be held in Karnataka's Mangalore later
this month, and distributing Kannada language pamphlets which had
IS symbol and a message titled, “IS Shaitan”. The arrested persons
have been identified as Ilyas and Abdul Nazir. According to Police
sources, the pamphlet is being analysed by top Police officials as
the content of the pamphlet canvasses for a convention of Salafi Muslims
scheduled to be held in Mangalore from January 9-16. Police is also
checking the mobile number mentioned on these pamphlets.
February 26: ATS arrested two suspected ISI operatives
from Rajkot and Bhavnagar (Gujarat), who had conspired to carry out
terror activities in the country and was planning to collect chemical
explosives from cracker manufacturers in Gujarat. Two brothers, Wasim
and Nathin, were arrested from Rajkot and Bhavnagar respectively,
in an operation launched by the state ATS.
March 8: After 12 hours of intensive firing and the
use of tear gas and smoke bombs, one IS suspect was killed by ATS
in Thakurganj area in outskirts of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, and the
operation ended at around 3am on March 8. At least six persons were
reportedly arrested in an anti-terror sweep and combing operation
that was launched to flush out one suspect holed up in a house hours
after a low intensity blast in Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. The
body the suspect holed up in the house was identified as Mohammed
Saifurullah alias Ali, a resident of Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh).
March 14: A 26-year-old man, identified as A Shaikh,
was detained in Khargone District of Madhya Pradesh by the Maharashtra
ATS in connection with a case related to IS. He is being brought to
Mumbai for questioning, a senior Police official said here. According
to Police, Shaikh, who has completed his M.Tech, was allegedly in
constant touch with one of the accused in the case, who was earlier
arrested for his alleged links with the banned terror group. “Shaikh
has not been placed under arrest so far. We are examining his role
in the case,” the official said without elaborating further.
In March, Mohammed Taha, a resident of Srinagar, was
deported from Turkey and sent to India. He has been put in preventive
custody, they said. Security agencies in India have viewed their alleged
plans to join the IS with concern. They believe that some Kashmiri
youths are getting radicalised by ‘jihadi’ propaganda material
shared by the IS on the Internet. The agencies feel that if the growing
influence of the IS is not checked, it can be detrimental to the situation
in the Valley.
April 20: In a multi-state joint operation, the Police
teams of Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and Andhra
Pradesh, arrested four suspected terrorists belonging to the IS and
detained six others. The arrests were made during raids in Mumbra
(Maharashtra), Jalandhar (Punjab), Narkatiaganj (Bihar), and Bijnor
and Muzaffarnagar (both in Uttar Pradesh. Important documents relating
to the IS were seized from them. According to Police, two persons,
identified as Mufti Faizan and Tanveer, allegedly connected with the
IS, were arrested from Bijnor District of Uttar Pradesh. Nazim Shamshad
Ahmed (26), who hails from Bijnor, was nabbed from Mumbra township
in Thane District adjoining Mumbai. Another suspect identified as
Muzammil was arrested from Jalandhar District of Punjab. The accused
had got in touch with each other over the.
May 17: Hyderabad Police summoned three men for questioning
after a TV channel aired their interview allegedly showing their continuing
links with IS. "Following the TV interview, we called them this
evening... questioning is underway," DCP, Avinash Mohanty said.
The three men include suspected IS sympathisers Salman Mohiuddin,
a US-returned engineer, and Abdullah Basith.
Basith was among the three men who were arrested from
Nagpur in December 2015 when they were allegedly on their way to join
the IS. Mohiuddin was arrested in Hyderabad in 2015 when he was preparing
to board a flight to Dubai, allegedly on the way to Syria to join
IS. The third person being questioned had been earlier arrested by
the Hyderabad police for alleged IS sympathies, and 'de-radicalised'.
May 29: A 21-year-old Kashmiri youth, who was allegedly
trying to join the terror group IS, has been deported from Turkey
to India after being picked up by Turkish authorities, official sources
said in Srinagar. Srinagar resident Afshan Parvaiz was deported from
the Turkish capital of Ankara on May 25 and whisked away to an undisclosed
destination by security agencies in Delhi, the sources said. He was
being assessed by various security agencies, they said.
June 23: Hyderabad Police arrested a suspected IS sympathiser,
identified as Konakalla Subrahmanyam alias Omar (24) who was
allegedly planning to carry out subversive activities in the country.
Omar was arrested from his room in Hyderabad (Telangana) in the morning
after a SIT received information about him. According to D Hari
Kumar Yadav, ACP, SIT, Subrahmanyam embraced Islam in 2014, and changed
his name to Omar.
July 4: Rajasthan ATS arrested a suspected IS handler,
identified as Haroon (30) from Burma Bazaar area in Chennai in Tamil
Nadu. The accused, Haroon, is suspected of collecting and sending
funds to the terrorist organisation and was detained following information
from two other accused, Mohammed Iqbal and Jamil Ahmed, who are already
under the custody of Rajasthan ATS. Haroon reportedly runs a mobile
phone shop in the area. The report states that Haroon has been taken
to Jaipur (Rajasthan) for further questioning and investigation. There
have been reports of several individuals joining the Islamic State
in Syria from Tamil Nadu and Telangana. It is believed that nine people,
including one from Telangana and eight from Tamil Nadu, had joined
Islamic State in the year 2016.
July 11: A 32-year-old man, identified as Shahjahan
Velluva Kandy with suspected IS links has been arrested by the Delhi
Police’s Special Cell from IGI airport. Kandy, a resident of Kerala’s
Kannur, was arrested after the Indian intelligence agencies received
an input from CIA on June 30. Kandy was deported by Turkey police
for travelling with a fake passport. Sources said he was planning
to enter Syria through Turkey.
July 25: The NIA arrested two suspects from Chakeri
area in Kanpur District allegedly for planning terrorist activities.
The arrested suspects, 26-year-old Asif Iqbal and 27-years old Mohammad
Atif, believed to be members of the IS-related module active in Kanpur,
stayed at Jajmau locality under the jurisdiction of Chakeri Police
Station in Kanpur and were known to each other. According to reports,
Asif Iqbal is the cousin of Saifullah, the alleged IS-inspired terror
operative who was gunned down in Kakori area of Lucknow in UP on March
7, 2017, soon after the blast in Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train on
the same day.
August 3: Three persons have been taken into custody
by the NIA on the charge that they were affiliated with the Islamic
State (IS). The NIA arrested one person from Alappuzha in Kerala and
two from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. They were detained after raids
at their residence following inputs that they were in contact with
suspected IS recruits from South India. Data storage devices, mobile
phones and other materials were seized. The raids were conducted after
obtaining orders from the NIA court in Kochi. Alok Mittal, Inspector-General,
NIA, confirmed the detention and said no arrest had been recorded.
September 18: The NIA arrested one person, identified
as Shakul Hameed, who had planned to travel to Syria to join the Islamic
State (IS/IS) as well as carry out attacks in Tami Nadu, from Chennai.
NIA said that Hameed had hatched a conspiracy along with eight others
in 2013, to further activities of IS in India. The agency had filed
a case against this module from Tamil Nadu in January this year (2017).
"Hameed and associates, with the intention of furthering the
activities of the proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria (IS)/Daesh, had hatched a criminal conspiracy from
2013 onward and formed a terrorist gang which had raised and received
funds, organised meetings, recruited and facilitated the travel of
some persons to Syria to join the IS/ Daesh," said NIA in a statement.
October 25: Gujarat ATS arrested two suspected IS
terrorists, identified as Mohammad Kasim Stimberwala and Ubed Ahmed
Mirza from Surat in Surat District who were planning terror attack
in the State during the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections. The duo
was in touch with IS through social media. They even conducted recce
at some religious places in the state. They have been inspired by
terrorist Abdul al-Fazal and were planning to flee the country after
executing their plan.
October 25: Three youths from Kerala, identified as
Midilaj K.C (26), Rashid M.P (23), and Abdul Razakh K (24) who joined
the IS and left the country to undergo training in Syria were arrested
by the Police in Kannur District of Kerala after four months of Police
surveillance The youths were arrested by the Valapattanam Police in
Kannur District after they were questioned by Police officers led
by the Kannur DSP P.P. Sadanandan. They had been under surveillance
after they returned to the country four months ago from Turkey.
October 26: Kerala Police arrested two more persons
in connection with the Islamic State’s recruitment case. U K Hamsa
alias Taliban Hamsa (57), suspected to be the kingpin of Islamic
State’s recruitment in the state along with a recruit Manaf Rahman
(42) were arrested in Kannur District.
November 4: The UP ATS arrested one suspected Islamic
State (IS) terrorist, identified as Abu Zaid (37) from the Mumbai
Airport, soon after deboarding a flight from Riyadh. "Abu Zaid,
suspected IS terrorist was arrested by the ATS team from Mumbai Airport
on November 4 after he came from Saudi Arabia," ADG - Law and
order, Anand Kumar said. He said Zaid was residing in Riyadh and formed
a social media group to allegedly radicalise youths and lure them
to IS.
November 6: Gujarat ATS picked up one person, identified
as Uruzkhan Pathan of Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) for questioning in connection
with the firearms which were to be supplied to alleged Islamic State
(IS) operatives, Ubaid Mirza and Kasim Stimberwala who were arrested
by Gujarat ATS on October 25.
November 6: One Uroz Khan, arrested in Madhya Pradesh
on November 6, had reportedly told police that he promised to supply
arms and explosives to two suspected ISIS operatives for allegedly
carrying out "lone wolf" attacks on a Jewish synagogue and during
election rallies in Gujarat, the official said.
November 9: A NIA official’s team questioned two persons
in Chennai for their alleged links with the Islamic State (IS). NIA
sources said the two men, identified as Mohammed Jaffer of Kondithope
and Sahib of Mannadi, were questioned by a team of officials from
Delhi in a secluded place in Chennai city. They were summoned to appear
before them to inquire after IS sympathiser Shajahan VK had spilled
the beans about them during questioning.
Indians
believed to have joined IS in Afghanistan/Syria/Iraq
Number of Indians known to have joined IS – 88 persons
(Kerala – 53, Karnataka – 9, Maharashtra – 7, Tamil Nadu – 6, Telangana
– 5, Uttar Pradesh – 4, Andhra Pradesh – 2, Jharkhand – 1, Jammu and
Kashmir – 1)
Kerala - 53
June/July, 2016: 21 youths who have gone missing from
Kerala suspected to have joined Islamic State (IS).
Abdul Rashid Abdulla (30), his wife Ayisha, formerly
Sonia Sebastian, their daughter Sarah, Ijas Rahman, his wife Rifaila,
their two-year- old son Hayan, Ijas’ brother Shiyas, his wife Ajmala,
their cousin brother Ashfaq, his wife Shamsiya, their 18-month-old
daughter Ayisha. Mohammad Murshid (26), and Mohammad Sajid (24),
TK Hafeesuddin (23), Marvan Ismail, Muhammad Mansad and Feroze Khan,
Bexson (later Isa) and his wife Nimisha (now Fatima); his brother
Bestin Vincent (now Yahiya) and his wife Merin Jacob (now Mariam)
(22).
One man, identified as is Sajeer Mangalachari Abdullah,
(Kozhikode District, Kerala) a key Islamic State (IS/IS) recruiter
in Afghanistan.
Intelligence sources said two youths, identified as
Ayub and Shoaib from Kannur and Shuhaib from Parappangadi, wanted
in terror-linked cases, may have joined the IS using new names and
identities.
Riyab-ul-Rehman, a youth from Payyanakkal in Kozhikode
District missing from Ras-al-Khaimah in UAE suspected to join IS.
Mohammad Rishal (Kannur), Mohammad Irfan Iqbal (Kannur),
Huda Raheem (Kozhikode).
Sibi from Kanjikkode in Palakkad District
Najeeb (24), an MTech student of Malappuram, Kerala,
suspected to have joined the IS.
Kerala Police also identified Abdul Manaf P P (30),
resident of Valapattanam in Kannur District and Shabeer Muhammed Shafi
(33), resident of Mooppanpara in Valapattanam in Kannur District,
his relative Suhail and his wife Rizwana and Abdul Khayyoom (25),
resident of Chekikulam near Kuttiattoor in Kannur District as IS fighters
still in Syria.
Three persons from Kerala, one person hailing from
Chalad in Kannur District, Mansoor from Vadakara in Kozhikode District
and Mansoor from Kondotty in Malappuram District, were also believed
to have joined IS and later killed in Syria. All these people are
branded as 'Bahrain group' in the Police circles.
Muhammad Shajil (30) of Pallikkal House at Kamalpeedika
in Kannur District along with his wife and two young children are
reportedly joined IS in Syria.
Five Kerala youths, Shahanad (25) of Chalad in Kannur
District, Rishal (30) of Valapattanam in Kannur District, Shameer
(45) of Pappinissery in Kannur District and his son Safwan (20), Shajil
(30) of Koodali (all from Kannur District) were among those who were
reportedly joined IS and later killed in Syria and Afghanistan
Shybu Nihar from Thamarassery in Kozhikode District
and Fajid from Koyilandi in Kozhikode District
Ashraf Moulavi and Muhadhis from Vaniyambalam in Malappuram
District
Safeer from Perumbavoor in Ernakulam District
K O P Thasleem, a native of Pappinissery in Kannur
District, has been in Sharjah for the last six months and now suspected
to have moved to Syria.
Karnataka - 9
Shafi Armar alias Yusuf al-Hindi, a native
of Bhatkal in Karnataka is currently operating in the IS-occupied
regions of Syria. While Armar’s brother Sultan Abdul Kadir Armar (39)
was reportedly killed in Syria.
Three youths from Karnataka, Faiz Masood of Cooke
Town, Umar Subhan of Shivaji Nagar (both in Bengaluru) and Abdul Khuddus
Turki of Vijayapura in north Karnataka - All three died during coalition
strikes against the IS, the report stated.
Anwar Husain, a one-time minivan driver from Bhatkal,
was killed in 2014, fighting alongside jihadists near Kandahar in
Afghanistan.
Abdul Qudus Turki (Bijapur), Mohammad Riyaz (Bhatkal),
Shameel Yakub (Kodagu)
Maharashtra - 7
Four Kalyan youths, Areeb Majeed, Fahad Tanveer Shaikh,
Aman Naeem Tandel and Saleem Tanki
A Malvani youth, Ayaz Sultan, has reached Syria to
fight for the Islamic State (IS).
Tabrez Tambe (28) from Mumbra, who had left to
work in Egypt this January (2017) and allegedly joined the banned
outfit IS, have found that he is in a Libyan jail.
The Thane ATS suspects that a 23-year-old youth from
Kalyan, identified as Yusuf Akhtar Shaikh, who went missing in May
2016, may have joined the Islamic State (IS). “We suspect Shaikh has
joined the IS, but we have no leads. We will talk to his mother once
we get his call data records,” said an officer from the Thane ATS.
Tamil Nadu - 6
A Tamil Nadu based man, Subhani Haji Moideen alias
Abu Meer (31), who hails from Tirunelveli fought alongside the so
called caliphate for several months in Iraq and Syria and returned
to India to carry out attacks in India.
Mohammad Thayyib Shaik (Vellore), Mohammad Syed Abu
Tahir (Karur), Shakul Hameed (Chennai).
Haja Fakkurudeen Usman Ali, a Tamil Nadu-born Singapore
resident who left for Turkey along with his family on January 22,
2014, had disappeared across the Syrian border and is believed to
have joined the IS.
A resident of Thanjavur (Thanjavur District), Mohammed
Naser is believed to have joined the IS
However, according to a report, eight from Tamil Nadu
were believed to have joined the Islamic State in 2016.
Telangana - 5
The two men, both from Telangana, left the country
to fight alongside IS in Syria have been identified as Arshad Ali
and Kadir.
An engineering student, identified Haneef Waseem (25),
from Mancherial in Adilabad District of Telangana who had gone to
join the Islamic State (IS), has died in the fighting in Syria on
March 15, 2015.
Zeba Farheen (Hyderabad), Atif Ahmed khan (Hyderabad).
Uttar Pradesh - 4
Two former Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, Abu
Rashid Ahmad and Mohammad 'Bada' Sajid from Azamgarh, joined IS.
A 28-year-old youth from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh,
was recruited by IS and sent to Syria via Turkey by a Dubai-based
operative of the militant outfit.
Shahnawaz Ahmad, a Unani doctor and the son of a local
Samajwadi Party politician in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh suspected to
have joined IS.
Andhra Pradesh - 2
May 23, 2016: Recently, the intelligence authorities
received information that an engineer from Guntur District (Andhra
Pradesh) had joined Islamic State (IS).- Talmeezur Rahaman (Guntur)
Originally from Andhra Pradesh, a 25-year-old Indian
studying computer engineering in a college in Dallas, US joined IS.
The engineering student assumed the name Abu Salman al-Hindi.
Jharkhand - 1
A youth from the Jakirnagar locality named Arshiyan
Ali to have joined the IS.
Jammu and Kashmir - 1
Adil Fayaz, who hails from Kashmir, is believed to
have joined the IS after completing his MBA from Australia’s Queensland
University.
Indians
reportedly killed fighting for IS in Afghanistan/Syria/Iraq
[Total number of killed – 25 (15 from Kerala, 5 from
Karnataka, 3 from Maharashtra, 1 each from Telangana and Uttar Pradesh)]
2013 or 2014 (date not specified): Mohammed Umar Subhan
from Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru in Karnataka was reportedly killed at
an unspecified place while fighting for IS.
2013 or 2014 (date not specified): Faiz Masood from
Bengaluru in Karnataka was reportedly killed at an unspecified place
while fighting for IS.
2014 (date not specified): Abdul Khuddus Turki from
Vijayapura in Bijapur District of Karnataka was reportedly killed
at an unspecified place while fighting for IS.
2014 (date not specified): Anwar Husain from Bhatkal
in Uttara Kannada District was reportedly killed while fighting for
IS near Kandahar in Afghanistan.
January, 2015 (date not specified): Saheem Farooque
Tanki from Thane District of Maharashtra was reportedly killed during
a “suicide bombing” in al-Hasakah city in Syria.
March, 2015 (date not specified): Maulana Abdul Kabir
Sultan Armar alias Abu Abdullah al Hindi from Bhatkal in Uttara
Kannada District of Karnataka was reportedly killed during fighting
at Kobane, on the Syria-Turkey border.
April, 2015 (date not specified): Athif Vaseem Mohammed
from Adilabad District of Telangana was reportedly killed while fighting
for the IS at an unspecified location.
July, 2015 (date not specified): Mohammed Sajid alias
Bada Sajid from Azamgarh District of Uttar Pradesh was reportedly
killed while fighting with IS forces in Syria.
April, 2016 (date not specified): Mohammed Shafi Armar
alias Yousuf al Hindi from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada District
of Karnataka was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Syria.
[The US State Department on June 15, 2017, added Armar as a key IS
operative to its Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) list.
The State Department termed Armar "a leader and head recruiter
in India" for the IS. "He has cultivated a group of dozens
of IS sympathisers who are involved in terrorist activities across
India, such as plotting attacks, procuring weapons, and identifying
locations for terrorist training camps," the State Department
statement said.] However, IS released a message on August 21, 2017,
saying that he was killed during a battle with Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) in Raqqa.
November, 2016 (date not specified): Aman Naeem Tandel
from Thane District of Maharashtra was reportedly killed in an airstrike
in an unspecified location in Iraq.
February, 2017 (date not specified): Muhadis, hailing
from Vandoor in Malappuram District of Kerala was reportedly killed
in US military operations in Aleppo in Syria. Sources said that his
brother Manaf, who was working in Bahrain, broke the news of Muhadis'
death to family members in Kerala.
February 25, 2017: Hafeesudheen T K from Kasaragod
District of Kerala was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in the
Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan.
April, 2017 (date not specified): Murshid Muhammed
from Kasaragod District of Kerala was reportedly killed in Nangarhar
Province of Afghanistan.
April 29, 2017: Bestin Vincent alias Yahya
from Palakkad District of Kerala was reportedly killed in US strikes
in the Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan.
June 19, 2017: Sajeer Mangalachari Abdullah from Kozhikode
District of Kerala was reportedly killed in US strikes in Afghanistan.
The news about the death of Sajeer and a picture of his body was received
on the mobile of a man, whose relative is among the 21 Keralites who
left their homes here to join the IS, said the official of the Kerala
Police's intelligence unit. However, there was no information about
time and cause of Abdullah's death.
June 2017 (date not specified): Sibi from Kanjikkode
in Palakkad District of Kerala was reportedly killed in Syria. One
of his relatives in Palakkad district had received the news of his
death. Sibi was working in Bahrain before joining the Islamic State
in Syria. "Further details could not be known," the official
said.
June 2017 (date not specified): Three persons from
Kerala, Shahanad (25) of Chalad in Kannur District, Mansoor from Vadakara
in Kozhikode District and another Mansoor from Kondotty in Malappuram
District, were also believed to have been killed in Syria. All these
people are branded as 'Bahrain group' in the Police circles.
July 2017 (date not specified): Marwan Ismail of Thrikkaripur
in Kasaragod District of Kerala who was suspected to have joined Islamic
State (IS) in 2016, was reportedly killed in an air strike in Afghanistan.
His father had received a message through Telegram app informing
him about his death in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
October 2017 (date not specified): One of the four-member
cell of students from Maharashtra’s Thane who became the first Indians
to join the Islamic State (IS), identified as Fahad Tanvir Sheikh,
was killed fighting near Raqqa in Syria last week, his family was
told by an anonymous caller. Sheikh was the last surviving member
of the cell, following the arrest of Areeb Majeed, and the killing
of Sahim Tanki, and Aman Naim Tandel. “Late Tuesday [October 24],
my wife received a call from a foreign number from someone who told
us our son had been killed,” said Dr Tanvir Sheikh, Fahad Sheikh’s
father.
October 2017 (date not specified): During the interrogation
of the arrested IS suspects on October 25, 2017 from Kannur District
of Kerala, it was revealed that five Kerala youths, Shahanad (25)
of Chalad, Rishal (30) of Valapattanam, Shameer (45) of Pappinissery
and his son Safwan (20), Shajil (30) of Koodali (all from Kannur District)
were among those who were reportedly killed in Syria and Afghanistan.
Source: Figures are compiled from
news reports and are provisional.
