Thiruvananthapuram: Four persons from the state earlier deported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their suspected connections with Islamic State (IS) were detained by the security agencies at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports and released after interrogation on Tuesday.
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Identified as Anas and Karthik, they are being interrogated by National Investigation Agency (NIA), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the state police intelligence and immigration department officials.
While two men, natives of Malappuram and Kozhikode, were detained for questioning at the Kozhikode worldwide Airport in Karipur, two others were held at the Thiruvananthapuram global Airport on arrival.
None of them have any “serious” links with the IS but agencies are closely watching Kerala as they fear that it could be a fertile land for recruiters. However during the questioning nothing was found which linked them to the ISIS.
The four youth were detained on suspicion of posting propaganda material on social media. They were also let off owing to lack of evidence.
The four people who have been deported have told the interrogators that they were in touch with two men who had joined the terror group out of “curiosity towards ISIS”, the sources said.
Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi traveled to the UAE where he agreed with the UAR officials to counter terrorism together and to coordinate efforts to prevent radicalization.
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Meanwhile, Cyber police has launched a probe into an alleged bid by supporters of ISIS to lure a Kerala youth to join the terror group by sending messages through mobile application WhatsApp. He later approached the police with the complaint.
