NIA arrests 2 Kerala women, one traveled to Tehran to join IS in Syria

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 17 (IANS) Moving ahead in its probe in the Kerala IS module case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested two women from Kerala's Kannur, officials said.

An NIA spokesperson in Delhi said that the arrested accused have been identified as Mizha Siddeeque and Shifa Harris, both residents of Kannur.

The official said that the arrest was made after a probe revealed that Siddeeque is affiliated with ISIS and had travelled to Tehran along with her associates to join ISIS in Syria.

"On instructions of accused Mohammed Ameen, she had created a page on Instagram to propagate, motivate, radicalise and recruit gullible Muslim youth for ISIS. She had also radicalised other accused in the case namely her cousin Mushab Anwar, Shifa Harris and was motivating them to join ISIS," the official said.

Commenting on the role of Haris alias Ayesha, the official said that she has affiliation with ISIS and on directions of accused Anwar and Siddeeque, she had transferred funds to Mohammad Waqar Lone alias Wilson Kashmiri for supporting ISIS activities," the official added.

Shifa was willing to perform Hijra (religious migration) to ISIS controlled territory for joining the terror group.

The NIA registered a case on March 5 this year against seven known and unknown persons under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act pertaining to terrorist activities of one Ameen alias Abu Yahya of the state and his associates, who have been allegedly running various IS propaganda channels on different social media platforms for propagating IS ideology and recruiting new members.

The official said that Ameen and his associates have been running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media platforms such as Telegram, Hoop and Instagram for propagating the violent Jihadi ideology of ISIS and radicalizing and recruiting new members for the ISIS module.

In March this year, the NIA had conducted searches and had arrested three accused persons -- Ameen, Rahees Rasheed and Anwar in this case.

On August 5, the Agency carried out searches at five locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka and arrested Obaid Hamid of Bemina in Srinagar, Muzammil Hassan Bhat in Bandipora (Kashmir), Ammar Abdul Rahman of Ullal Mangalore and Shankar Venkatesh Perumal alias Ali Muaviya of Bengaluru.