ISIS targeted 15 Keralites, NIA hunts for woman recruiter

National Intelligence Agency (NIA) probing into the infiltration of Islamic State ISIS) in India, got vital clues on the involvement of women in the recruitment process. The agency got leads to a woman who is suspected to have guided to persons to terrorist outfit. 
 

The investigating agency has found that the terrorist outfit had made a hit list of 15 Malayalees, including four journalists, whom they believed to be campaigning against Islam. The list included 152 Indians, including 15 computer professionals. 
 

Investigators got evidence to prove that a woman named Umm Huraira Al Halabi held online conversations with two persons, arrested for ISIS links. Tamil Nadu native Mohammad Kamal, the 15th accused in the case had contacted Al Halabi online on several occasions. 
 

"She was the one who introduces Kamal to Subahanai Haja Moideen, the key recruiter of ISIS. Moideen has fought for ISIS in Iraq. She introduced Kamal to lure him to the terrorist organisation. Al Halabi is also suspected to have rescued Moideen from Syria, where he was jailed, before returning to India. We are yet to get a clear picture of the woman, and her nationality and identity have not been revealed," NIA sources said. 
 

The NIA charge sheet states that Moideen wanted to escape from the war front, but was imprisoned and shifted from Mosul to Raqqa in Syria. He managed to escape to India via Turkey and continued recruitment to the outfit. He was also procuring explosives. 
 

A separate charge sheet was filed against Moideen, a native of Thodupuzha, whom NIA has branded as an IS fighter. He was also involved in recruiting youngsters and attracting more youths towards ISIS ideology, the officials said.
 

Another accused, Swalih was found to have received ₹18, 000 from Saudi Arabi for terrorist activities. The amount was transferred by a Keralite as per the direction of Shajeer Mangalasseri, another accused. The NIA later recovered the amount. 
 

Information were received from a laptop seized from a Maharashtra native, Najir Bin Yafi, a recruiter to ISIS. The names of these persons were handed over to IS leader Shafi Armar, along with their designations, email addresses and company profiles were shared. Most of the persons in the list are working for Intelligence and armed forces. 
 

ISIS had enlisted a total of 8, 318 persons from across the globe as on June 2016. 

NIA filed a charge sheet against eight accused on March 29. Further investigations are on into the role of other accused and IS modules operating in the country. 
 

The agency, at first busted the Kerala module of ISIS in October 2016, and subsequent probe led to more arrests from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Kerala module, Ansarul Khilafa, was formed in August 2016 and had plans to attack politicians, High Court judge and religious leaders in Kerala. 

• ISIS
• NIA
• woman recruiter
• ISIS Kerala module
• ISIS journalists