The suspected ISIS Chennai module, which had a Telangana native in its ranks, received funds from unknown sources in Syria at the behest of the banned outfit. National Investigation Agency (NIA), Delhi, had registered a case in the last week of January against nine members of the module on the charge of working for Islamic State.
Of the nine-member module, only one person actually joined the terrorist outfit, while the rest failed to reach Syria, NIA officials said. The IS sympathisers had reportedly organised several meetings and even chalked out plans to reach the terror hinterland to work in the so-called caliphate.
“Based on information available with us, only one person from Chennai reached Syria. Prima facie, we have information that the module got funding from abroad and they were at an advanced stage of executing their plans to reach Syria,” the NIA officials told TOI.They were still in the process of identifying the place where they undertook training in Tamil Nadu. The IS modu le member from the state is suspected to be from Karimnagar in North Telangana and the state police was unwilling to disclose his identify. Though he hails from Telangana, he had been wor king in Chennai. It is through social media the nine came to know each other.
Three persons were nabbed in the Abu Dabhi module in January 2016, who were deported when they too ma de a bid to join the IS. During investigation, the NIA sleuths found that Chennai-based persons had facilitated their trip to Abu Dhabi at the behest of their handlers based in Syria.
In the latest FIR registered in New Delhi on January 28, NIA officials had said that eight persons from Tamil Nadu, one from Telangana and a few others, hatched a criminal conspiracy to join ISIS, a banned terrorist organization in India, with the intention to further the activities of the outfit. The accused operated in Chennai and other parts of the country by forming a gang which raised and received funds, organized camp, recruited and trained people, and facilitated their travel to Syria.
Courtesy: Times of India
