THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A five-member team from a France police agency, which is probing the 2015 Paris attacks, interrogated Islamic State (IS) operative Subahani Haja Moideen at the Viyyur Central Jail in Thrissur on Wednesday.
The team reached Kochi on Tuesday night and visited the Viyyur jail, where Subahani is lodged, on Wednesday evening.
Sources said the team grilled Subahani, a Thodupuzha native and an accused in an IS case registered by the NIA for nearly two hours.
“The team comprised officers probing the Paris attack and officers from the French consulate. They had held at meeting with NIA officers at the latter’s office here before visiting the jail. The interrogation was carried out by NIA officers in the presence of the French team,” sources said.
The team will visit the jail again for interrogation on Thursday. “The NIA Court had given permission to interrogate Subahani for three days, that is, till Friday,” sources said.
Subahani, who joined the IS at Mosul and received armed training there, had been arrested after the NIA busted an IS module from Kanakamala in October, 2016. During interrogation then, he told NIA about foreign fighters, including the French national who led the IS unit in Mosul.
As per his statement, he had been working for the IS regiment ‘Omer-Kathi-Kaliph’ and during his stay at Mosul, Abdel Hamid, Abdesalam and Mohammad Usman – involved in the Paris attack – had visited the camp to meet Abu Sulaiman, the commander of the regiment. However, Subahani denied having any information about the Paris attack. Post his arrest, NIA had filed two chargesheets in the case and the trial commenced at NIA Court here.