At least 66 people are suspected to have joined the ISIS from northern districts of Kerala since 2016

Ten people from Kannur in Kerala, who were missing since November, are suspected to have joined ISIS, police sources have told NDTV on Thursday. Among the ten, at least five are minors, say sources. "They told their family that they were going to Mysore but never returned. The police, based on initial probe, suspect that they travelled to Dubai and then to Tehran. They may have moved to Afghanistan now," said police sources.

The suspects, according to the police, personally knew TV Shameer, a resident of Kerala, who was radicalised and later killed in Syria.



Police sources have also confirmed to NDTV that the suspects "knew each other well" and worked together in Dubai earlier. "We suspect that their radicalisation began when they were in Dubai. The men also knew few others in the state, who had allegedly joined ISIS previously. They largely remained to themselves and did not socialise much," said police sources.

Last week a five-member team of French investigators came to Kerala to interrogate an alleged ISIS operative Subahani Haja Moideen, in connection with the 2015 Paris terror attack. Facilitated by the National Investigative Agency, the officials of the French anti-terrorism agency questioned Subahani Haja Moideen, currently lodged in Viyyur Central jail in Kerala. Subahani Haja Moideen is from Idukki district's Thodupuzha.

Earlier in September, a court in Kerala framed charges against six people, alleged to be ISIS terrorists, for reportedly trying to carry out terrorist activities in parts of southern India.

From the northern districts of Kannur and Kasargode in Kerala, at least 66 people are suspected to have joined the ISIS since 2016.