Suspected ISIS recruit held at Pune airport

06 April,2016 08:07 AM IST |   |  Chaitraly Deshmukh/ Agencies

He was about to leave the country and allegedly go to Syria via Dubai


Pune: A suspected ISIS recruit was detained at the Pune airport yesterday, as he was leaving the country and flying to Dubai, to go to Syria.

Officials identified the youth as Raoof Ahmed, a resident of Bhatkal in north Karnataka.

Security agencies have been keeping a strict vigil after his name cropped up during internet chats with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which are being monitored by sleuths to look for possible followers of the terror group active in parts of Syria and Iraq.

They said Ahmed was detained as the Union Home Ministry had issued a look-out circular against him some time ago.

An officer said, "The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had issued a notification of his name to all airport authorities in India, and around 6 pm on Tuesday, he was detained at the Pune airport. Two ATM cards and R20,000 have been seized from him. An hour later, he was flown to New Delhi. An National Investigation Agency (NIA) team from Mumbai is also going to reach New Delhi."

A source said, "Ahmed was detained based on an input from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The IB is interrogating him."

At least 14 youths were arrested early this year by the NIA as part of its investigation into indoctrination of youths by the banned terror group.

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