Haji Mastan’s former aide helped Kerala IS operatives cross Iran-Turkey border

The investigation revealed a Russian agent Abu Muslim at Istanbul facilitated the journey of Kerala IS operatives from Istanbul to Syria.

Islamic State militia (File | AP)

KOCHI: The NIA, which is probing the migration of youth from Kannur to Syria for joining Islamic State (IS), has received information that Indian gangster and smuggler Haji Mastan’s former aide helped youngsters cross the Iran-Turkey border. The youth were helped by Russian agent to cross Turkey and enter Syria. NIA is investigating two cases related to the migration of 12 youth from Kannur to Syria. While some successfully reached Syria, some were intercepted by security agencies abroad.A report filed by NIA at a New Delhi court on the arrest of Shajahan Velluva Kandy of Kannur, said international agents facilitated the passage of prospective IS operatives in crossing Iran and Turkey to reach Syria.

Besides Shajahan, youths K P Abdul Rasak, Midilaj, Rashid M V, Mohammed Shameer T K, Shabeer, Abdul Manaf PP, Mohammed Shajil, Abdul Khayoom from Kannur had attempted to join IS in Syria.
Of them, Mohammed Shameer T K, Shabeer, Abdul Manaf, Mohammed Shajil and Abdul Khayoom successfully reached Syria while the others were caught and deported to India. Shajahan made another attempt to go to Syria in April last year using a fake passport but was again caught by security agencies in Turkey.

In October 2016, Shajahan and his wife left for Malaysia to go to Syria. The investigation revealed a Russian agent Abu Muslim at Istanbul facilitated the journey of Kerala IS operatives from Istanbul to Syria. Abu Muslim’s assistant Abu Sulaiman facilitated their stay and provided the forged Syrian Refugee card to them to help them travel to Syria. Another assistant of Abu Muslim was facilitating illegal crossing across the Turkey-Syria border. The group was helped by Muthu alias Mustafa, an assistant of Haji Mastan, in crossing Iran to reach Turkey. Mustafa has been staying in Iran for the past several years and was allegedly involved in smuggling goods from West Asia.

The youth used to communicate with the agents using the Google Translation app. To chat, they used WhatsApp and Telegram app in the Arabic language which was translated into Russian using the Google app.“It will be difficult to accurately identify and arrest the agents. From Shajahan’s mobile phone, we recovered chats between the group and the agents. The case has been registered against the persons who successfully migrated to Syria. With the help of agencies abroad, we are looking to bring them back to India,” an NIA officer said.