KOCHI: It seems Tehran has become a major transit point for Indians looking to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Afghanistan. In all major cases registered in Kerala related to the migration of Malayalis to IS-held territories since 2016, the preferred route has been via Tehran. Intelligence agencies are clueless about who are facilitating such journeys in Iran. It is suspected that smugglers operating in Iran are helping jihadis to cross the border to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
“They select Imam Khomeini International Airport, Tehran, as a transit point to reach by air. From there, they cross the border illegally to Afghanistan or Turkey. For reaching Syria, the group cross the border from Turkey. However, no probe has taken place about people in Iran who facilitate IS sympathisers to cross the border,” said sources.
In the first two IS cases registered in Kerala — related to 21 people from Kasargod and Palakkad who moved to Afghanistan in 2016 — the group used Tehran as a transit point. Kozhikode native Shajeer Mangalasseri, who was reportedly killed in Afghanistan, also moved via Tehran to reach the IS-held territory. Moinudheen Parakadavath, a member of an IS module Ansarul Khilafa-Kerala, also reached Tehran in June 2016. However, he returned to the UAE and was deported last year.
In another case related to the migration of Malayalis from Kannur and Kozhikode to Syria, it was seen that the group chose an indirect route via Iran. Nashidul Hamzafar, a suspected IS sympathiser from Kalpetta, also attempted to reach Afghanistan through Tehran in October 2017. “The group that went to Afghanistan moved to Mashhad bordering Turkmenistan. They stayed there for some weeks before moving to Afghan border areas. The group that went to Syria crossed the border through Tabriz in North Iran to reach Dogubeyazit in Turkey,” sources said.
Even intelligence agencies are surprised that IS sympathisers are clandestinely using Iran to reach Afghanistan and Syria. “Iran is battling IS in Iraq and surprisingly the jihadis are using its borders to sneak into IS-held territories. Since these borders pass through deserted places and actively used by smugglers, the enforcement agencies there are also finding it hard to control the situation,” said an officer.