ISIS recruit Areeb Majeed's travel agent identified

Mumbai, Oct 30: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a manhunt for a person by the name Abu Bakr Siddiqui, an alleged recruiter for the ISIS in India.

A resident of Kalyan in Maharashtra, Siddiqui is said to have helped the four Kalyan youth including Areeb Majeed join the ISIS.

Among the four youth, who left India to join the ISIS, only Majeed returned after complaining of ill-treatment by the outfit in Iraq and Syria.

The NIA said that there is a circle active in Maharashtra which carries out recruitments and also facilitates the travel of youth who want to join the ISIS.

Siddiqui is one of the alleged operatives who facilitated the travel of the four youth from Kalyan, an NIA official informed OneIndia.

The role played by Siddiqui:

The NIA, which has identified Siddiqui as the man who facilitated the travel of the four youth from Kalyan, said that they have sounded off an alert seeking the arrest of this man.

"He is well connected with foreign contacts and according to our investigations, he had arranged for the documents for the youth to travel to Iraq," the officer also pointed out.

Siddiqui is said to have been in touch with two persons from Afghanistan at whose behest he has been working for the ISIS.

Once Majeed and his accomplices were convinced that they would join the ISIS, they were asked to get in touch with Siddiqui.

It has also been found that Siddiqui was in touch with a travel agency in South of Mumbai through which the travel documents were prepared.

The NIA said that they have also identified another person by the name Daualati who had helped Majeed and the three others.

Daulati is said to be based in Saudi Arabia at the moment. The NIA, however, said that at the time these four youth left for Iraq, Daulati was very much in India.

He could have fled shortly after these youth left India, the officer also points out.

A tough case in the making:

For the NIA to put out a strong case, they would need more technical evidence. There has been a lot of communication online before these youth joined the ISIS.

"To track the entire modus operandi, we need more technical evidence," the NIA official said.

India has now sought the help of Australia and is hopeful of getting technical help from them.

Australia would be more than ready to help as there are youth in that country too who are inclined towards the ISIS.

Australia and India can share a great deal of information on how to combat the ISIS threat jointly.

OneIndia News