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Two ‘ISIS terrorists’ held in Shivamogga
On Monday, Shivamogga rural police registered a case against Shariq of Thirthahalli, Maaz Munir Ahmad of Mangaluru and Syed Yasin of Shivamogga under the unlawful activities (prevention act) 1967 for having links with banned terrorist organisations and plotting to carry out terrorist activities.
Two suspected terrorists with Islamic State (ISIS) links have been arrested from Shivamogga, home minister Araga Jnanendra announced on Tuesday. A third suspect is on the run.
“Three people with ISIS links have been identified by Shivamogga police. Out of them, two people have been arrested and the search is on for the third suspect,” said the minister.
On Monday, Shivamogga rural police registered a case against Shariq of Thirthahalli, Maaz Munir Ahmad of Mangaluru and Syed Yasin of Shivamogga under the unlawful activities (prevention act) 1967 for having links with banned terrorist organisations and plotting to carry out terrorist activities.
Munir and Yasin have been produced before a court and they were remanded in police custody till September 29.
According to the police FIR, the gang members were planning to advance the cause of IS that was detrimental to the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India. “The trio had links with IS. An intense probe is going on about their activities. They are from Shivamogga and Tirthahalli with links to Mangaluru,” Jnanendra said.
Talking about the case Shivamogga, Superintendent of Police BM Laxmi Prasad said police cooperating with the NIA official in the case. “They are accused of plotting a conspiracy to commit a terror act, professing their ideologies and following the agenda of a terror organisation. The investigation will disclose more details.”
According to police, the trio had allegedly burnt the Indian National Flag.
Yasin’s father Ayub Khan told media persons that his son had been missing for more than 15 days. The police did not record the family’s complaint that Yasin was missing. On September 19, he received a phone call from police informing him that his son had been arrested.
Talking about recent arrests of Islamic State sympathisers, additional director general of police (intelligence) B Dayananda said as per the state government’s records, 30 people have been arrested for links with the Islamic State so far.
“So far, the arrests have been made in connection with radicalisation and evidence of contact with members of the Islamic State. We have come across people who have been following IS propaganda constantly and some of them have made contact with people in IS. Most of the arrests are related to this,” said the officer.
The arrest of Mehdi Masroor Biswas, an engineer who ran a pro-Islamic State Twitter handle, in 2014, has been one of the biggest catches for Bengaluru police.
“For enforcement agencies, radicalisation is a big concern. As far as Karnataka is concerned, we have been very clear that online radicalisation has to be taken seriously as lone-wolf attacks are being witnessed across the world. Certainly, more attention is needed on this front,” said a former IPS officer, who was intelligence chief during his tenure.
