‘He was following speeches of the Easter blasts mastermind’

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday said it had arrested a 29-year-old resident of Palakkad in Kerala, allegedly planning a suicide attack in the State.

In a statement, the NIA said it arrested Riyas A., who goes by the aliases Riyas Aboobacker and Abu Dujana, as part of its probe into the ‘ISIS Kasargod case’ filed in July 2016 after 15 young men from the district disappeared and later joined the Islamic State — 14 in Afghanistan and one in Syria.

It said he followed the videos and speeches of the mastermind of the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, Zahran Hashim.

‘In contact with accused’

“During interrogation, he disclosed that he had been in online contact with the absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla, alias Abu Isa, for a long time and was following his audio clips, including the one he had circulated on social media platforms instigating terror attacks in India,” the NIA said. The terror accused said he was also in online contact with Abdul Khayoom, alias Abu Khalid, who is accused in the Valapattanam ISIS case and is believed to be in Syria, the NIA said.

“He said he had been following speeches/videos of Zahran Hashim of Sri Lanka and Zakir Naik. He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala,” the NIA statement read.

It said he followed the videos and speeches of the mastermind of the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, Zahran Hashim.

The agency said it had received inputs about a group of four people that had been in touch with some of the accused in the IS-related cases. The NIA carried out searches at three spots — two in Kasargod and one in Palakkad district — on Sunday, it said.

“Three group members have been interrogated for their ISIS links and their plans,” the NIA said. Riyas Aboobacker would be produced before an NIA court in Kochi on Tuesday.