The National Investigation Agency has specific leads on a few more suspected IS sympathisers in Kerala and raids would be conducted soon to arrest them, said sources. Investigations in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka have led to the arrests of suspected IS activists Riyas Aboobeckar, Ahamed Arafat and Aboobacker Siddique from the state.
The telephonic intercepts, an NIA official said, include chats that occurred on multiple occasions among people in Malappuram, Kasaragod and Palakkad in Kerala and those in Sri Lanka. Investigators in Sri Lanka have found that there were close ties between National Touheed Jama’ath of the island nation and Touheed Jama’ath of Tamil Nadu.
The NIA found that there are a few Islamic State sleeper cells in Kerala, especially in Kasaragod, Kannur and Palakkad. An investigation into the Facebook accounts of suspects reveals that there are several sympathisers for IS in the state. In the interrogation, Riyas said they were planning a suicide attack on Thrissur Pooram in which lakhs of people participate every year.
Interrogation of the three arrested suspects indicates that they had links with the Sri Lanka blasts accused. The April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo and elsewhere killed 253 people, including 11 Indian nationals and some foreigners, and injured 500. Fifteen people, including three suicide bombers, died during a raid by Sri Lankan security forces on Friday night and nearly 100 people have been detained in the island nation.
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