Kalyan youth who joined IS returns to India, in NIA custody

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 28, 2014: Arif Majeed, one of the four Indian nationals hailing from Kalyan near Mumbai, who were reported to have joined the Islamic State terrorist group, returned to India on Friday.

 

 

Majeed is currently said to be in the custody of the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is interrogating him for more leads on the dreaded terrorist outfit’s activities and about forty Indians being reportedly held captive by it in Iraq.

How Alleged Islamic State Fighter Arif Majeed Was Brought Home to Mumbai


Six months after he left his home in Kalyan near Mumbai, allegedly to fight with the Islamic State, Arif Majeed has returned home today and has been extensively interrogated by intelligence officials.

The 23-year-old reportedly said that he was trained in Iraq for 15 days by the IS before being sent to fight in Syria and Turkey. He was shot twice, he told interrogators, and managed to escape to a safe part of Turkey about a month ago. Part of the reason he left the IS was because he wanted medical treatment for his injuries.

Mr Majeed had left his home along with three other young Muslim men from Kalyan on the Eastern outskirts of Mumbai to travel to Iraq. In late August, one of the men told his family over the phone that Mr Majeed had been killed. His family had then performed special prayers.  Mr Majeed has reportedly said today that his three companions are alive.

After landing at the Mumbai airport early this morning on a flight from Turkey, Mr Majeed was taken away for questioning by the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad. Members of the country’s main counter-terrorism arm, the National Investigating Agency (NIA), had been in touch with his parents for months. The officials flew to Turkey last weekend to meet with Mr Areef and issued emergency travel documents to him; it reportedly was not easy to persuade him to return home.

No case has been registered against him. Investigators want information on how he entered Iraq, how he managed to escape, and whether he has any details on the 40 construction workers from India who were kidnapped from Baghdad in June, allegedly by IS militants.

In May, Mr Majid, along with three other young Muslim men, left their homes, informing their families that they were on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East. Later, they revealed that they had joined the IS.

Intelligence agencies believe they were recruited over the internet.