KOZHIKODE: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two women from Kannur for allegedly being part of a group that was engaged in the propagation of the ideology of the Islamic State (IS).
Shifa Haris and Mizha Siddique were picked up from their houses at Thana in Kannur on Tuesday morning. They were active on social media platforms that propagated IS ideology, according to the NIA.
The involvement of the women came to light after the NIA arrested Muhammad Ameen alias Abu Yahya, a native of Malappuram in March 2015. Three persons were also arrested from Jammu and Kashmir in the same month.
In another crackdown, IS cadres Zufri Jawhar Damudi of Bhatkal in Karnataka, Ammar Abdul Rahman of Mangalore and Shankar Venkatesh Perumal of Bengaluru were arrested on August 6. All of them were accused of spreading IS propaganda through various social media platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, Hoop and Facebook.
Damudi is alleged to have established direct contact with IS handlers in Afghanistan and Pakistan and translated the propaganda materials given by them. Such materials were used in Voice of Hind and Swat Al Hind, the IS magazines being circulated in India.
According to the charge sheet filed by the NIA in the Delhi court, Mushab Anuvar, an associate of Shifa and Mizha, was arrested in March 2021. The names of other persons including youths from Padanna, Kollam and Anchal in Kerala are mentioned in the charge sheet.
The women were produced before the magistrate in Kannur and will be taken to Delhi soon.