ISIS linked Jihadi Riyas Aboobacker arrested in Palakkad by NIA.

NIA arrests Palakkad resident ‘Riyas Aboobacker’ for planning suicide attack in Kerala for mass killing of Hindus.

T Sammugam | HENB | Kochi | April 30, 2019:: In a success, National Investigation Agency (NIA) nabbed a ISIS linked Jihadi from Palakkad. The NIA on Monday arrested Riyas Aboobacker, a resident of Palakkad in Kerala, for being in touch with some members of an Islamic State-inspired module from Kasargod and planning to carry out a suicide attack in the state.

During his questioning by NIA, Aboobacker said he had been following speeches and videos of Sri Lankan bomber Zahran Hashim for more than a year, besides the speeches of Salafi preacher Zakir Naik.

Earlier, the NIA had come across videos of Hashim’s jihad-inspiring speeches from computer resources seized during raids at the premises of six accused in the IS Coimbatore module case. The module was allegedly planning to attack Hindu leaders in Tamil Nadu.

Aboobacker’s arrest follows raids at his residence in Palakkad as well as of two other suspects in Kasargod. The raids followed inputs that a group of four persons had been in contact with IS Kasargod module accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla, Ashfaq Majeed, Abdul Khayoom etc who had migrated to Afghanistan and Syria. Three group members have been interrogated for their IS links and their plans.

Read also: With radicalisation in Kerala and Colombo bombings, South India is a ticking time bomb

During interrogation, Aboobacker disclosed that he had been in online contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla alias Abu Isa for a long time and had been following his audio clips, including the clip which he had circulated on social media instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India. He told his interrogators that he had online chats with Abdul Khayoom alias Abu Khalid, an accused in Valapattanam IS case who was believed to be in Syria. He further said that he had been following speeches/videos of Zahran Hashim of National Thawheed Jaamat (Sri Lanka) and Dr Zakir Naik of Peace TV and Islamic Research Foundation. He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala.

Read also: Zakir Naik a centric figure for every Islamic State recruit in India, abroad

The IS Kasargod case was registered in July 2016 following the disappearance of 15 youths from Kasargod and their subsequent migration to join the IS (14 persons to Afghanistan and one to Syria).

The ISIS (Daesh), a Salafi jihadist militant group, has its declared plan to execute suicide attacks in India for annihilation of ‘infidel’ Hindus for making an ideal Islamic state in India.

Aboobacker will be produced before the NIA court in Kochi on Tuesday.

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__inputs from TNN & One India.