KOCHI:Two Malayalis, alleged sympathisers of a militant religious ideology, were deported from United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Kerala. They are among a group of about 40 persons from various nationalities detained by the Gulf country for allegedly participating in the propaganda of IS and sharing pro-IS material on social media especially Facebook. The State police chief has directed a probe into the allegation, including tracing the antecedents of the alleged persons.
According to highly placed sources, the two among the five from Kerala, all belonging to the northern districts, in the detained group, which includes 10 from the country, reached here on August 29. The UAE is following a zero-tolerance attitude towards religious fundamentalism and some of the detainees had only scant knowledge about the radical ideology.
“It has to be noted that UAE and many other Gulf countries are more vigilant and strict compared to India when it comes to such issues. In my understanding, the people in question might have liked or shared pro-Islamic State posts on the social media, which in turn linked them with IS. However, the State police have not received any confirmation on the alleged involvement of Malayalees with IS,” DGP Senkumar said.
Both the deported persons have had a long-term association with the UAE as their families had been there for many years. While one among them is a bachelor in his early twenties, the other person aged 30 is married and both have been running petty business. The other three men from the State are waiting for their turn for deportation.
According to sources, the Intelligence Bureau has decided not to register any case against the two young men. They were allowed to join their family. In order to protect the identity of thefamilies, names of the deported have not been revealed. The agencies have been put on high alert following the recent revelation that Abu Thahir from Palakkad had joined a militant group from the Middle East. While some reports said he was in the IS fold, he himself had clarified on FB that he was with Jabhat Al-Nusra, an outfit affiliated to Al-Qaeda in Syria.