The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken serious note of the reports coming from North Kerala of 11 persons going missing from Dubai amidst fears of them joining the ISIS.
In 2016, a batch of 21 people from Kerala had gone missing and were found to have traveled to IS Khorasan province in Afghanistan. The fresh reports coming in are alarming for the security agencies which have been claiming that the IS threat has been contained and there is no fresh recruitment of IS operatives taking place in the country after several arrests were made in the past two years.
Ever since news trickled in that eleven people, belonging to two families, have gone missing, the NIA sleuths are on their toes. The agency is trying to glean more details and join the dots to connect any possible links to their disappearance.
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“We are seized of the matter and we are trying to get more details,'' Alok Mittal, NIA spokesperson, told THE WEEK. The NIA will be looking at whether there were any common links between these people and those who have already left the country. It is also being examined whether any of these people were in touch with those who left the country, using social media platforms. The latest episode has also come as a shocker for the state police which have been keeping a close watch on the radicalised elements in the state. Cases of IS operatives recruiting radicalised youth from the state are already under investigation by the NIA.
The NIA will be coordinating with the local police to examine any terror links. Nothing can be ruled out as of now, said another official. The Kerala Police have filed two cases based on the complaints filed by one Abdul Hamid, a resident of Chemnad in Kasaragod district, who said six people, including his 28-year-old daughter Nazeera, have gone missing since June 15. The second complaint mentioned names of Nazeera’s husband Mohamad Sabad (35), his second wife Rahanath (28) and their three children.