Suspected IS terrorist held on arrival from Kabul

A Malayali youth, suspected to be an Islamic State (IS) terrorist, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) when he landed in the national capital after he was deported from Kabul, officials said on Wednesday.

Nashidul Hamzafar (26), native of Kalpetta in Wayanad district, was taken into custody on Tuesday.

He was detained by Afghan security agencies last year on charges of illegally entering the country to join his associates in the IS.

His case is part of a criminal conspiracy hatched by other accused from Kasaragod of Kerala and their associates since 2015 with the intention of joining and furthering the objectives of the IS.

Fourteen others from Kasaragod district had left India or their work places in West Asia between mid-May and early-July 2016 before travelling to Afghanistan where they joined the IS.

"Nashidul Hamzafar participated in the conspiracy through encrypted social media platforms, with the other absconding accused persons in this case like Abdul Rashid and Ashfak Majeed who were known to him through his college-mates Shihas, Firoz Khan and Bestin Vincent," an NIA statement said.

He had left India on 3 October, 2017 and travelled to Muscat before travelling to Iran and further reaching Kabul where he was detained.

Nashidul, who is the 16th accused in the case, was produced before special NIA court in Delhi on Wednesday. He will now be taken to Kochi on transit remand for producing him before the Special NIA Court in Ernakulam, which had issued a NBW against him.

The NIA had on 27 January, 2017 filed a charge sheet against Rashid, a Malayali, and Yasmeen Mohd Zahid, a woman who hails from Bihar's Sitamarhi, in the case.

Others were not named in the charge sheet, while Nashidul did not figure in the list as he had left India only after the charge sheet was filed.

It claimed that the accused, who have left India are continuing their "anti-national activities by propagating the ideology of and inviting support for the Islamic State" through various means including, but not limited to, internet-based social media platforms".

Quoting witnesses, the charge sheet also claimed that Rashid had also sought support for the IS by inviting his friends and colleagues to travel out of India and join the organisation in Afghanistan.