Nashidul is the only ISIS terror recruit from India who spent several months in Afghanistan

In a first, a 26-year-old terror suspect from Kerala, Nashidul Hamzafar, has been deported from Afghanistan for questioning. Nashidul spent a year in Afghanistan to join ISIS. On Tuesday, Afghan authorities put Nashidul on a plane to Delhi, where NIA officials were waiting for him.

Soon after Nashidul passed the immigration, he was arrested and produced before the NIA special court in Patiala House court complex.

Alok Mittal Inspector General (IG), NIA confirmed the news about Nashidul's arrest. "He will now be taken to Kochi on transit remand for producing him before the special NIA court, Ernakulam that had issued NBW against him," he said.

The arrest is a shot in the arm for the agency which claims this is the first deportation of terror suspect in any case from Afghanistan. Nashidul was detained by Afghan security agencies last year for illegally entering the country from the Afghanistan-Iran border before reaching Kabul.

For NIA, Nashidul Hamzafar is a goldmine of information since he is the first active terrorist with key link to the sensational 2016 ISIS case. 21 Kerala natives went missing in 2016 fleeing to Afghanistan only to join ISIS. At least 3-4 of the 21 peopole are believed to be killed.

Nashidul Hamzafar, a native of Kalpetta, Wayanad district, left a year later but was in touch with people who fled in 2016.

Sources said that when the Afghanistan agencies got a wind of him, he was tracked and detained. He was questioned by both Afghan and US intelligence agencies.

Once, it became clear that Nashidul, had come to Afghanistan to join ISIS, the agencies deported him to India.

Nashidul is the only ISIS terror recruit from India who spent several months in Afghanistan traveling through several routes and meeting contacts.

According to the anti-terror probe agency, Nashidul had left India on October 3, 2017 and traveled to Muscat, Oman before travelling to Iran and further reaching Kabul, where he was detained.

"He could be a key link to the missing Indians. He seemed to be in touch with several ISIS terrorist through social media platforms. He can reveal a great extent about the missing Indians and possibly even those who have not been detected."

Nashidul used encrypted social media platforms to communicate with other absconding accused persons in this case. The others, Abdul Rashid Abdulla and Ashfak Majeed, were known to him through his college mates Shihas, Firoz Khan and Bestin Vincent.

The first crucial arrest in the case was Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid who attempted to migrate to IS-held territory in Afghanistan. She was awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonmen earlier this year.