Thrissur man with alleged terror links nabbed in Kerala amid drama

He said the man had told him that his ID proof was misused by someone and he was being trapped in the case.

For representational purposes

KOCHI: Dramatic scenes unfolded at the Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I hall on Saturday afternoon after the City Police detained a person who came to surrender, alleging terror links. 

Abdul Khader Raheem (39), a native of Kodungalloor, in Thrissur district, was taken into custody by the Central Police around 4 PM suspecting him to be part of the six-member Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) gang which allegedly sneaked in Tamil Nadu to carry out terror attacks across the country. 

However, Abdul Khader's counsel alleged that a human trafficking racket operating in Bahrain with Kerala roots was trying to implicate him for helping a Malayali woman escape from their clutches.

The officials said he was detained based on the evidence received by them regarding his terror links.  "He will be handed over to the intelligence wing of Kerala Police, which deals with terrorism and anti-national activities," said an officer.  

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The police had picked up a woman from Abdul Khader Raheem's auto garage at Aluva on Friday based on Intelligence inputs. Though Abdul Khader Raheem was also present at the garage when the police arrived, he managed to escape.

According to Abdul Khader's counsel R O Muhammed Shemeem, the accused contacted him and arrived at the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court to surrender before the Magistrate. Abdul Khader was afraid of surrendering before the police as he suspected a plot to implicate him and subject him to physical torture. 

According to the lawyer, Abdul Khader was working as a mechanic in various car garages in Bahrain from 2000 onwards. He returned to the state by the end of 2018 and joined a workshop named Midwest at Kottayi in Aluva. However, succumbing to the pressure from his sponsor in Bahrain, Bilal Ahmed Al Azani, he returned to the West Asian country on visiting visa in July 2019. 

In Bahrain, he accidentally met the woman, who had earlier worked with him. It is said, the woman was allegedly trapped by a human trafficking racket with Kerala links, who forced her into flesh trade. He managed to save her from the racket and brought her back to Kerala. The duo landed in Kochi on Thursday. Abdul Khader claimed that members of the racket approached him posing themselves as CID agents and took away his identity cards using which they implicated him.

During interrogation, Abdul Khader told police officials that he had never visited Sri Lanka and he had visited only Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The police are trying to confirm whether he had links with the Sri Lankan gang.