The NIA’s probe against Thodupuzha native Subahani Haja Moideen not only ended in the latter’s conviction, but also helped the agency bolster its ties with security and police agencies in the European Union (EU), especially France. NIA officials, including A P Shoukat Ali who investigated the case against Subahani, were hosted by French agencies to share information about the November 2015 Paris attack.
This happened after Subahani allegedly told the NIA that he had seen some persons involved in the attack, including Abdel Hamid, Abdesalam and Mohammad Usman, at his camp in Mosul during his stay there from April to September 2015. Subahani had been working for the IS regiment Omer-Kathi-Kaliph, whose commander was one Abu Sulaimani Al Francisse.
Subahani told the NIA that the persons had come to see Sulaimani.The information was shared with the French authorities who invited the NIA officials to Paris in April 2017. Later, the French authorities probing the Paris attacks requested to interview Subahani and later visited the Viyyur jail, where Subahani was lodged, in December 2018. “Subahani did not cooperate with the French team and refused to divulge anything. However, NIA shared all other details with France,” said a source.
After the NIA team’s visited Paris, a joint workshop on counter-terrorism was held in New Delhi in 2017 and since 2018, the platform has been expanded with NIA conducting annual workshops with agencies in the EU every December. Officers representing top agencies in EU countries attend the workshops.