Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) apparently stumbled upon fresh evidence relating to latent IS-related activity in the South when they took into custody three persons, including an Alappuzha native, on Friday following searches at their residences.
The trio — a native of Kidangamparambu in Alappuzha and residents of Ukkadam and Karumbukadai in Coimbatore — came under the NIA scanner after the agency received ‘reliable information’ on them being in touch with IS handlers who are part of the Kanakamala (Kannur) terror module on social media platforms.
The Alappuzha native was working at a computer shop in Vyttila, Ernakulam.
All three were grilled by the agency in separate locations, but their arrests had yet to be recorded, it was learnt.
The agency would send the electronic devices for cyber- forensic examination to ascertain their role in the case before recording their arrest, it was learnt.
During the searches, NIA officials seized several mobile phones, laptops, hard disks, pen drives, DVDs, CDs, memory cards, and SIM cards besides documents, including books and manuscripts.
“One of the three persons whose premises have been searched has admitted that he had been in regular contact with Abdul Rashid Abdullah, accused in the other IS-related cases of the NIA (sic),” the agency said.
The searches were carried out after warrants were issued by the NIA Special court in Ernakulam.
Sources said the three suspects had been part of a group formed by Shajeer Mangalassery, aka Abu Ayisha, an absconder in the Kanakamala case who was reportedly killed in Afghanistan.
Further, they were alleged to be on WhatsApp and telegram groups run by IS handlers to coordinate the terror outfit’s activities.
The chargesheet filed by the NIA in the Kanakamala case early this year had maintained that Shajeer, while abroad, had hatched the criminal conspiracy to form terror modules with the aim of aiding IS activities in India.