Indian IS Recruit Leads NIA to France, Austria And Pakistan
News Source: News18.com
New Delhi: An alleged Islamic State recruit has led the National Investigation Agency to France and Austria while revealing a possible link between the Lashkar-e-Taiba and IS.
Subhani Haja Moideen was chargesheeted by NIA in its case related to the IS Kochi module.
Moideen is one of the two Indians who fought for IS in Syria and Iraq. He had come back to India in 2016 to lead a normal life but was arrested by NIA on charges of trying to set up an IS module in south India. The NIA chargesheet accuses him of trying to kill RSS leaders in Kochi.
He told interrogators about a man named Mohammed Usman. Subsequent investigations revealed that Usman was a Pakistani trained by LeT who later shifted allegiance to IS. He was arrested by Austrian authorities on charges of being a co-conspirator of Paris attacker Abdel Hamid Abdesalaman. Moideen claims he saw both Abdesalaman and Usman visit his IS brigade chief, Abu Salimani al-Francisi, in Mosul.
NIA sources said a French team had recently visited Delhi and collected information from Moideen and then invited the NIA to come to Paris for further sharing of information.
Moideen was arrested on October 5, 2016 from his residence in Thirunelveli after a group of six was arrested by the NIA from Kananakamala in Kannur while they were holding a meeting. The agency alleged that they were planning attacks at the prominent places and against leaders in Kerala and other parts of south India.
Following their interrogation, the agency zeroed in on Moideen and arrested him.
According to the NIA, Moideen had travelled to Iraq and underwent training with IS between April and September, 2015. He returned to India and attempted to procure explosives and chemicals to wage war against the Government of India.
The chargesheet accused him of forming an IS module that conspired and prepared to target prominent persons including high court judges, political leaders and senior police officers besides foreigners visiting India.