Indian ex-Google employee detained for trying to join ISIS

According to TOI, Munawad Salman has been taken into custody for trying to join militant group ISIS to become a part of the social media wing of the group in Iraq. Police officials claim that Salman was a former Google employee and his conversations, which were tracked for months, made it certain that his hidden agenda to visit Saudi Arabia was to cross over to Iraq and join Islamic State.

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Salman, who is a software engineer, quit his Google India job six months ago and had been actively reading 'Al Isabha' web propaganda, which is run by sympathizers of Islamic State, formerly Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Al-Qaida, to target Indian Muslims.

A senior police officer said, "He is being grilled for more information. This is perhaps the first time, a software engineer has got attracted to a global terror outfit like Islamic State in the recent past. The arrest is very significant and could open a big door for us to trace more educated youth getting influenced by militants (sic)."

Salman was apparently in touch with handlers from ISIS for nearly a year and had exchanged emails before agreeing to work with the people behind 'Al Isabha'. He also had a visa to travel to Saudi Arabia and join a local company there but the police said that there were clear indications that he was planning to join IS either immediately or later.

A similar case was reported earlier where about 15 youth from Hyderabad, including engineering students, made an attempt to join ISIS but were caught at the West Bengal border a month back.

Source: TOI