Confessions of Bengaluru’s love-struck ISIS recruit

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Bengaluru, Dec 23: The 23-year-old Bengaluru native was arrested in a joint operation of the NIA and local police in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district.

The developments leading up to last week’s arrest of alleged Islamic State recruit Abid Khan read like a Bollywood movie script. The terror suspect falls in bad company, the cops come calling, but he has a narrow escape from arrest, goes underground, converts to Christianity to remain hidden, believes he is in love with an Indonesian woman he calls his girlfriend, and finally gets caught. Sources said the 23-year-old Bengaluru native was living in a church in Banjar town of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district for the past six months before he was arrested in a joint operation of the NIA and local police.

 

Sources said the 23-year-old Bengaluru native was living in a church in Banjar town of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district for the past six months before he was arrested in a joint operation of the NIA and local police.

Khan was allegedly planning to reach Syria via Indonesia and had recently visited Sri Lanka. He also told investigators that he referred to a woman, an Indonesian national, as his girlfriend, because of whom he wanted to visit that country. But investigators are yet to verify this. A mobile phone and a laptop recovered from him could lead to crucial clues into Abid’s life while he was at large.

How Khan, a Bengaluru man, reached Kullu is another story in itself. While the NIA launched a nationwide swoop on ISIS terror suspects in January, arresting two dozen people, Khan remained out of reach. His three associates from Bengaluru - Asif Ali, Mohammed Afzal and Syed Mujahid - were arrested.

India has the world’s thirdlargest Muslim population at nearly 170 million but only a handful of them have joined the West Asian group.Abid has told NIA sleuths and Kullu police that he converted to Christianity in a Methodist church in Bengaluru to stay out of the radar of the agencies. The NIA will corroborate this aspect since it is yet to formally take over the case.

After conversion, he went to Sri Lanka allegedly on a fake passport with his phoney identity of "Paul". Sources told Mail Today that Khan went to Sri Lanka in March-April this year for a month, and has alleged to have gone on missionary work.

The accused will remain in police custody till December 26. The NIA only plans to seek his custody in a fortnight.