NIA raids in Kerala as part of probe into ISIS module

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Sunday conducted searches at three places in Kerala as part of its investigation into the ISIS Kasaragod module case. The probe agency said in a statement that it carried out the searches at the houses of three suspects - two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad.

"These persons are suspected to have links with some of the accused persons in the said case who had exited India to join the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS/Daish," the NIA said in a statement.

It said that mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries with handwritten notes in Arabic and Malayalam, DVDs and books of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, besides untitled DVDs, CDs with religious speeches, books of Syed Kutheb were seized during the searches.

"Digital devices will be forensically examined and analysed," the agency said, adding the three suspects are being questioned. The houses raided in Kasaragod belonged to Aboobackar Siddique and Ahammad Arafath. The NIA has issued a notice asking them to appear at its Kochi office for further questioning on Monday. The identity of the third suspect is yet to be confirmed, a report said on NDTV.

A number of people from Kerala left for Syria and Iraq to join the terror group over the last few years, becoming a cause of concern for intelligence agencies. While 21 residents of the southern state -- including six women and children -- travelled to Syria from various districts of Kerala in May 2016, a group of Keralites went missing under suspicious circumstances from the Gulf between December 2016 and January 2017, the report said.

03
No. of places raided in Kerala

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