The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested a man in connection with its investigation into 2016 Islamic State module in Kasargod and Palakkad in Kerala. The NIA held 29-year-old Riyas Aboobacker alias Abu Dujana, a resident of Palakkad, for conspiring to commit a terrorist act. He will be produced before a court in Kochi on Tuesday.
During the probe, Riyas revealed that he has been following speeches and videos of Zakir Naik, an absconding Indian Islamic preacher and the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation, and Zahran Hashim. Notably, Zahran Hashim, a radical Tamil-speaking cleric, is the leader of National Thowheed Jamaath, which is believed to have executed the highly coordinated blasts in Sri Lanka on April 21.
He confessed that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala.
On Sunday, the NIA conducted searches at the houses of three suspects (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad district), who allegedly have links with the accused who left India to join terror organisation ISIS in 2016.
Riyas also unveiled that he had been in contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla for a long time and had been following his audio clips, including the one which he had circulated on the social media platforms instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India.
He also disclosed that he was also in contact with Abdul Khayoom, an accused in Valapattanam ISIS case. Khayoom was believed to be in Syria.
The Agency had earlier received inputs that four people are in contact with some of the accused, who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria.
After verification, the NIA carried out searches at three places (two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad District) yesterday and interrogated three men for their links with ISIS and their plans.
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