French cops arrive in Kerala to quiz prisoner with links to Paris attack terrorists

Subahani, believed to an ISIS operative, had allegedly received weapons training along with two terrorists who took part in the Paris terror attack.

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A team of officials from the French police has arrived in Kerala to interrogate Subahani Haja Moideen in connection with the November 2015 Paris terrorist attack that killed 130 people. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had found out that Subahani had received ISIS weapons training along with two terrorists who took part in the Paris terrorist attack.

30-year-old Subahani, a native of Thodupuzha in Idukki district, has been housed at the Central Prison, Viyyur in Thrissur district in connection with convening a secret meeting at Kanakamala in Kannur in 2015 to plot terror attacks in various parts of Kerala. Central Prison, Viyyur superintendent Nirmalanandan confirmed to TNM that Subahani will be interrogated by the French police team after the NIA granted permission for the same.

“The French officials arrived on Tuesday. The interrogation will take place between Wednesday and Friday (December 5 and 7),” NIA sources said.

Subahani was arrested by the NIA from his ancestral place of Kadayanallur in Tirunelveli on October 5, 2016. He is believed to be one of the main links in the ISIS recruitment network. He had left India between April and September 2015 to join IS in Iraq. According to a report, he told the NIA that during his ISIS stint in Iraq he had met two of the terrorists – Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Salah Abdelslam – who took part in the Paris terror attack.

Subahani is suspected to have received weapons training in Syria. According to a report in Mathrubhumi, after Subahani got frightened witnessing another terrorist burnt alive at the war front in Syria, the terror outfit held him captive and allowed him to return to India on the condition that he should continue IS activities. NIA, however, declined to comment on this and did not divulge more details.

On October 2, 2016, the NIA arrested six persons for their involvement in a criminal conspiracy to commit terrorist acts by collecting explosives and other offensive material for targeting important information persons and places. On getting the information, the NIA had launched surveillance along with the Kerala, Delhi and Telangana Police, which led to the arrest while five were conducting the meeting at Kanakamala hilltop in Kannur. The arrested persons were Manseed of Kannur, Abu Basheer of Coimbatore, Swalih Mohammed of Thrissur, Safwan of Malappuram, and Jasim and Ramshad of Kozhikode. They were allegedly members of Omar Al Hindi, the Kerala module of the ISIS.

The NIA Kochi unit filed two chargesheets in March 2017 before the NIA special court in Kochi against the eight people from Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the secret meeting case. At that time, a separate chargesheet was filed against Subahani.

NIA arrests six terror suspects from Kerala, one hails from Coimbatore