KOCHI: Two members of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) module active in Thrissur and Palakkad districts were involved in snatching Rs 30 lakh from the collection agent of a private finance company in Palakkad in April last year. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted the findings before a court in Kochi while it was considering bail applications filed by two accused persons — M K Ashif and Shiyas T S, both hailing from Thrissur.
The court later dismissed the bail applications. In July 2023, NIA received information about an ISIS-affiliated group becoming active among Thrissur and Palakkad natives by trying to recruit more youngsters. A further probe led to the arrests of Ashif, Shiyas, Sayid Nabeel Ahammed, Rayees P A and Saheer E P.
The NIA probe revealed that Ashif and Sayid were active cadres of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and they acquired physical and arms training at a training centre in Green Valley, Manjeri. Ashif was involved in the murder of an RSS activist in 2008, while Sayid had taken part in a violent agitation conducted by PFI in the state. Later, they moved to Qatar and while working there, took part in the activities of the India Fraternity Forum (IFF) and the overseas wing of PFI. At IFF, they acquainted with Abu Tahir, who later joined Jabath al Nusrah, a terrorist group in Syria.
In 2016 while in Qatar, they were associated with a Keralite named Shihas alias Abu Bara, who later joined IS in Afghanistan and was accused in an NIA case registered in the same year. Both Ashif and Sayid also wanted to join ISIS in Syria and Afghanistan, but due to various restraints, they failed. They returned to Kerala and decided to engage in further activities of ISIS here.
“They conspired to raise funds for furthering the activities of ISIS and perform ‘Hijrah’ by committing crimes as per the ‘Ghanimah’ ideology of looting the wealth of non-believers,” the court order denying bail to Ashif stated.
After returning to Kerala, they decided to form an ISIS module here and recruited third accused Shiyas and were brainwashing fourth accused Rayees. The first accused pledged allegiance to ISIS by taking an oath in favour of Abu Al Qureshi, the then-global leader of a terror organisation. Ashif started a Telegram group named ‘Pet Lovers’ to take the activities of ISIS forward in Kerala. The accused persons identified gullible youths and circulated pro-IS propaganda materials through social media platforms.
“In furtherance of Ghanimah ideology, the first to third accused persons, conspired and decided to acquire wealth for the activities of the IS module by looting non-believers. The accused conducted a recce of Hindu temples and prominent persons of other communities for looting. As part of this, the first and second accused conspired with others and committed the robbery of Rs 30 lakh by attacking Prasanth, a collection agent of Indel Money and a native of Palakkad, on April 20, 2023,” stated the court order.
However, the counsel for Ashif and Shiyas claimed that NIA could not collect any evidence to substantiate the allegation against them. “The case is politically motivated and nothing could be recovered from their mobile phones seized as as part of the investigation,” the counsel claimed. However, the NIA submitted digital evidence collected from gmail extracts, mobile phone call details, social media and online search activities.
After hearing both sides, the court observed that the allegations against the accused persons were serious. The court ordered that they are not entitled to be released on bail at this stage.