NIA files chargesheet against 24 Kerala Islamic terrorists for training Kerala youth for terror

NIA files chargesheet against 24 for training Kerala youth for terror

TNN Feb 16, 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Investigation Agency today filed chargesheet in the Kashmir terror recruitment case in which youth from Kerala were indoctrinated and recruited for jehadi traning by Lashkar-e-Taiba agents.

The chargesheet which was filed in a designated court in Kochi lists 24 accused. The main accused is K V Abdul Jaleel, who hails from Kannur. He is said to be an activist of the ultra-Islamic National Development Front which later merged to form the Popular Front of India. Some of the other accused named by the NIA are Pakistan national Wali Abdul Rahman and Sarfraz Nawaz, a keralite. Both of them were LeT operatives.

The chargesheet claimed that the conspiracy behind the terror recruitment extended beyond Indian borders and had links with some of the neighbouring countries. The youth were weaned away from their
homes in the guise of religious training and taken to places like Hyderabad where they were introduced to jehadi literature.

The terror trail came to light after the death of four Malayalee youth in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir in October 2008. They were identified as Mohd Fayaz of Kannur, Abdul Rahim of Malappuram, Rimon alias Mohd Yasin – a convert from Christianity – from Ernakulam and Fayeez of Kannur.

Investigation revealed that Bangalore blasts case accused Tadiyantavide Naseer who is also an accused in the case had taken the youth initially to Hyderabad where they were prepared ideologically and then sent across the border for weapons training. The first hits came from Mohd Jaleel, a painter, who had received phone calls from the militants while they were caught in the encounter. He led the cops to Faisal, the man who had taken Mohd Fayaz from his home in September 2008 on the pretext of a job in Bangalore.

Subsequently, it came to light that Faisal was one of the main recruiting agents for the LeT and is believed to have taken at least 100 men, mostly from Kannur, to Bangalore and Hyderabad for induction in terror. But the state government claimed that the figures were exaggerated.