KOCHI: The arrest of three members of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group is not the first incident in which members of international terror groups were traced from Kerala.
The state is turning out to be a haven for terrorist groups especially Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) which has roots in West Bengal and Assam — the states which contribute the largest migrant workforce to Kerala.
Earlier this year, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had prepared data about the number of JMB members caught from various states till January 2020. Of the 120 JMB members arrested, 59 were caught from Assam and 42 from West Bengal.
After these two states, four JMB members each were caught from Kerala and Jharkhand.
Apart from that, it was found that some of the JMB operatives arrested from West Bengal and Assam had stayed in Kerala.
Last year, West Bengal police arrested Abdul Matin from Malappuram in the 2014 Burdwan blast case. Another JMB operative was arrested by NIA in 2018.
According to NIA sources, Maoists from other states, including West Bengal, used to travel to Kerala when agencies started a crackdown on their home turf. Now even other terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda and JMB are coming to southern states.
“It is the journey distance that ensures a safe haven for them in southern states, especially Kerala. Similarly, the migrant workforce is so high in Kerala that operatives can settle in places like Perumbavoor without being noticed by any agency.
"Though these persons submit various documents to prove their identity before the employers, a detailed check on the history of the person at the native place is not possible,” an official said.
Other than JMB, Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives Tehsin Akthar and Zia Ur Rehman alias Waqas Ahmed were found to have stayed secretly in Munnar for months in 2013.
Both Tehsin and Waqas were top leaders of IM, but the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal and the duo almost spelt doom for the terror group.
Waqas was a Pakistan national. However, it was after the arrest of the duo in 2014 that the state police came to know about their stay in Kerala.
Similarly, a top Maoist leader Malla Raja Reddy and wife Suguna were traced by Andhra Police at Angamaly in December 2007.
They were wanted in over a dozen Maoist cases. Alam Jeb Afridi who was involved in several terror strikes, including the 2015 arson at the Israeli Visa Centre in Bengaluru, had visited Kochi and did a recce of Jewish Synagogue in Fort Kochi.
He was part of 20 persons from other states who trained at Wagamon before the 2008 Ahmedabad blast.