ISIS man looking for explosives at cracker units held

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested a suspected ISIS operative, who had conspired to carry out terror activities in the country and was planning to collect chemical explosives from cracker manufacturers in Tamil Nadu.

The accused identified as Subahani Haja Moideen (31), a resident of Tirunelveli in TN, was radicalised and recruited in IS through social media platforms.

He had left India for Istanbul from Chennai last year on the pretext of performing ‘Umrah’, the NIA said in a statement today.

After reaching Istanbul, he crossed over along with other people who hailed from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iraqi territory under control of ISIS.

From there, he was taken to Mosul where he underwent ‘religious training’ followed by combat training before being deputed to fight war for almost two weeks.

During the war, he told interrogators that he was paid $100 per month as an allowance by ISIS besides accommodation and food.

However, he told interrogators that he could not withstand the violence and war misery in Mosul and decided to leave especially after he saw two of his friends getting charred.

He was jailed by ISIS and produced before a Islamic judge who sent him to Syria and claimed that he was allowed to cross over to Turkey from where he contacted his family with the help of the Indian consulate at Istanbul.

He arrived in Mumbai after a gap of six months in September last year on an emergency certificate and returned to his ancestral place where he was staying with his wife and managed to get a job at a jewellery shop at Kadayanallur.

“However, once back and settled, he again got in touch with ISIS handlers over Internet and was planning to collect explosives and precursor chemicals from Sivakasi at their instance,” NIA said.