COIMBATORE: The special intelligence cell (SIC) of the Coimbatore city police questioned three Muslim youths, working in a gold smithery here, for being members of a

whose admin is a Pakistani national. The trio hailed from West Bengal.

SIC officials let off the trio, including Farooq Gowshir, on Saturday as they could not find any incriminating chats in the WhatsApp group. The officials seized the mobile phones of the men for further investigation. They were instructed to appear before SIC officials whenever required.

The officials got a tip-off that three Muslim youths from ‘Bangladesh’ working in a gold smithery here were active members in a WhatsApp group called ‘

’ and were chatting about guns and explosives.

The officials picked up the youths a few days ago and questioned them. The officials conducted search in the rental rooms of the youths and found Aadhaar cards.

The officials contacted the West Bengal police and confirmed the addresses of the trio on the Aadhaar cards. The police confirmed that the trio hailed from West Bengal, and not from Bangladesh as alleged. They have been working here for the last ten years.