National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths arrested two women in Kannur for suspected Islamic State (IS) links on Tuesday.
A team from Delhi arrested Shifa Harris and Mizha Siddeeque early morning from their house in connection with a case pertaining to terror activities of a group led by Mohammed Ameen, alias Abu Yahaya, a resident of Kerala. The arrested were reportedly part of the group running IS propaganda channels on social media platforms such as Telegram, Hoop, and Instagram for radicalising and recruiting members to this IS module.
Investigation revealed that Mizha Siddeeque had travelled to Tehran along with her associates to join the IS in Syria. On instructions of Mohammed Ameen, she created a page on Instagram to propagate, motivate, radicalise and recruit Muslim youths for the IS. She had also radicalised other accused in the case, namely her cousin Mushab Anwar, Shifa Harris, and motivated them to join the IS.
Shifa Harris, alias Aysha, as instructed by Mushab Anwar and Mizha Siddeeque, had transferred funds to Mohammad Waqar Lone, alias Wilson Kashmiri, for supporting IS activities,said an official release.
In March, the NIA arrested Mushab Anwar from Kannur and registered a case against seven others. All accused, including the two arrested women, were charged under Sections 120B, 121 and 121A of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17, 18, 188, 20, 38 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
During a search conducted by the NIA and the local police on March 15 on the premises of accused Ameen and his associates, several digital services such as laptops, mobiles, hard discs, pen drives, multiple SIM cards, and incriminating documents were seized.
