NIA questions top IS recruiter in India to unravel terror plot

NEW DELHI: The second-incommand of Islamic State's India unit Junood-al Khalifa-alHind, Rizwan Ahmed alias Khalid, is undergoing intense questioning by National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is trying to elicit details of the outfit's recruits and unravel their terror plot, besides getting to know about all those who travelled to IS territory in Iraq and Syria.

Associated with the IS since 2015, 19-year-old Rizwan, a resident of Kushi Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was in direct touch with Yousuf-Al Hindi, code name for Shafi Armar, the alleged co-founder of the India arm of IS. Rizwan travelled across the country to meet other senior members of the outfit -Muddabir Sheikh, Nafees Khan and Zarar -and propagate its agenda of jihad.

The India 'emir' (head) of Islamic State module, Muddabir Sheikh - arrested by NIA and states police forces earlier this year - had first met Rizwan in Saharanpur last year on the directions of Armar.They were asked to expand the organisation and streamline its operations apart from assigning roles for fund-raising, recruitment, logistics and propaganda to other recruits.

About 20 members from different states were caught in a countrywide crackdown. Muddabir had given Rizwan Rs 25,000 and a mobile phone for his interaction with al-Hindi, based in IS territory in Syria, and other recruits here in India.

A senior officer said, “Rizwan was among the important people in the ring. He interacted with Yousuf al-Hindi regularly and looked after the travel of recruits, probably to other countries for sending them to caliphate. We are questioning him about the missingabsconding members of the outfit.“

Rizwan was caught by Maharashtra ATS during the crackdown. NIA has taken him into custody to unearth the larger conspiracy as he attended most of the IS meetings in Lucknow, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and other cities. Apart from Rizwan, NIA is also questioning Mohsin Shaikh, a native of Malwani area in Mumbai, who had gone missing in December just before the crackdown but was later.