“If my son is a terrorist or anti-national, let him perish in jail, we won’t help him,’’ said the father of Riyas Aboobacker, an alleged Islamic State (IS) sympathiser arrested in connection with the Kasaragod ISIS terror module case in Kerala on Monday, 29 April.
“I knew he was on the wrong track. But I never expected that he would be arrested for links to the Islamic State,” Riyas’ father Aboobacker was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
The newspaper reached out to the kin of Riyas, who said that changes in his personality were first visible about three years ago.
The family revealed how he started to grow out his beard, ignored objections from his family, and started wearing “Arabian attire”.
“He became silent and aloof. He stopped watching films and TV, turning instead to his smartphone for videos and articles on Islam,” the report quoted members of Riyas’ family as saying.
According to the family, Riyas turned to the Internet to learn more about religion because the family never sent him to a madrasa.
The neighbours, meanwhile, said they were still in shock over the arrest.
“His long beard was a cause of concern because it was unusual. You will not find a Muslim youth in this region sporting such a long beard and hair,’’ said Sirajuneesa, a local resident, as per The Indian Express report.
NIA Probing IS Links
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Riyas as part of searches conducted on Sunday at three places in Kerala, as part of its investigation into the ISIS Kasargod module case. He was allegedly planning a suicide attack in Kerala.
Riyas was remanded to judicial custody till 29 May. The case was registered in July 2016, after 15 youths had disappeared from Kasaragod with suspected links to Islamic State.
The agency also said that Riyas followed videos and speeches of Zaharan Hashim, the alleged mastermind of the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka.
The probe agency said in a statement that it carried out the searches at the houses of three suspects – two in Kasaragod and one in Palakkad.
“These persons are suspected to have links with some of the accused persons in the said case who had exited India to join the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS,” NIA had said in a statement, as per PTI.
(With inputs from Indian Express, ANI, PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)