MANGALURU: Mohammed Shariq, the prime accused in the Mangaluru blast case, was allegedly inspired by al-Qaeda and he had saved and shared videos of the organisation with the other two accused in the case, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Sayyad Yasin, sources said.
“Shariq had videos on war in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and ISIS speeches which were translated to Urdu. He used to send PDF files, videos, audios and links related to extremism, radicalisation, works of ISIS and other terror organisations through Telegram, Signal, Instagram, Wire, Element etc, to Yasin and had brainwashed Maaz, both accused of burning the national flag in Shivamogga. The three were also found to be members of channels run on Telegram by ISIS’ official media center Al-Hayat. Shariq used to profess the ideologies of Islamic State (IS),” a source said.
Shariq and his associates allegedly wanted to establish ‘caliphate’ and impose Sharia law. “Shariq believed they should carry out a ‘jihad’ against ‘Kafirs’. He used to share PDFs on bomb-making with his accomplices, and they had also bought timer-relay circuits online before a trial blast in Shivamogga. They had stored explosives before the Mangaluru blast. Shariq had sent money for bombs to Yasin through crypto,” an officer said.