Three Keralites with alleged IS links sent back from Turkey, arrested in Kannur

According to the police, the three had completed three-month training in Istanbul and were trying to cross Syrian borders.

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Three persons suspected of having links with terror group Islamic State (IS) were arrested in Kannur in Kerala on Wednesday, police said. They are being questioned by a team led by Kannur Deputy Superintendent of Police P.P. Sadanandan.

The DSP told the media that the men had been deported to India by the Turkey police while they were trying to get in to Syria. “Midhilash Munderi, Razaq and Rashid Munderi are the men who were arrested. They all hail from Kannur district,” he said.

According to the police, the three had completed three-month training in Istanbul and were trying to cross Syrian borders.

Though the three, all aged between 23 to 26 years were arrested, the police are on the lookout for two more men who are believed to have been with the suspects.

Police will present the three men before a local court and seek permission for custodial interrogation.

The men belong to Chakarakal and Valappattanam regions in the district. According to local media reports, the police had been closely watching these people who had left Kerala a few months ago.

In October last year, five alleged Islamic State sympathisers who had held a meeting in Kanakamala of Kannur district were arrested by the NIA. Later, on the basis of information gathered from their questioning, another person was also arrested from Kozhikode district. It was after 21 people went missing in 2016 and allegedly went to Syria and Afghanistan to join Islamic state, that the roots that the Islamic State had in Kerala was revealed.