Police said Hamza Thalasserry, arrested on Thursday, is responsible for recruiting several youth from the state and helping them go to regions such as Syria and Afghanistan, where the Islamic State has launched an insurgency marked by mass killings and bombings.
The 52-year-old, also known as ‘Hamsa Taliban’ according to police, is suspected to have close links with seniors in IS, officials said quoting his statements to investigators.
Kannur deputy superintendent of police PP Sadanandan, who is investigating the case, told Hindustan Times that Hamza was operating from Gulf countries for more than 20 years. “Holding two passports, he visited many counties. He told us he was the cook of a Taliban leader and later switched over to the IS,” he said, adding the police were yet to get details of people he recruited to the IS .
“Going by our investigation he is a key operative of the outfit. During questioning he took many big names of the terror outfit and said he was in constant touch with some of them,” he said.
Hamza, according to Sadanandan, still believed in IS ideology and was confident believers will establish the “caliphate” soon. Police suspect he recruited many from middle-east.
In his place of origin Thalaserry, Hamza was known as a “moderate religious preacher.”
He apparently told police he sent at least 40 youths and 15 of them died in Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. His funders, he told police, were based in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Hamza was under surveillance since the last five months after he returned to India following a tip off from intelligence agencies.
Police named the second person arrested on Thursday as Mohamed Manaf, but did not disclose specific details about his role.
On Wednesday, KC Mithilaj (26), Abdul Rasaq (24) and AV Rasheed (25) were arrested for being sympathisers of the militant group.
They were sent back to the middle east when they tried to cross the Turkey border.
Police said more arrests are likely as 10 more people from north Kerala are under their radar.
Sources said more Islamic State recruits from Kerala will return as the group’s “caliphate” crumbles under sustained military assaults.
All arrested are likely to be handed over to the National Investigation Agency later.
Police have been worried over the inability to track people who go abroad, since hundreds of thousands do so routinely as part of their legal work in Gulf nations.
Last year, 21 youngsters from Kerala reportedly joined the group and intelligence agencies traced them to the Nanghar province of Afghanistan. They reportedly slipped out of India via Sri Lanka and Iran. Five of them may have died, according to relatives.