NIA arrests two women from Kerala's Kannur for ISIS links

Sources in the NIA said that two suspected women operatives of ISIS, who have been identified as Mizha Siddeeque and Shifa Harris alias Ayesha, were arrested from their residences in Kannur on Tuesday early morning.

NIA officials said that Mizha Siddeeque had close contact with another key operative of ISIS's Kerala module- Mohammed Ameen alias Abu Yahya, who has been running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media platforms for propagating the violent Jihadi ideology of ISIS and radicalizing and recruiting new members for the terror module.

"Investigation has revealed that accused Mizha Siddeeque is affiliated with ISIS and she had travelled to Tehran along with her associates to join ISIS in Syria," an NIA statement read.

"On instructions of accused Mohammed Ameen, Mizha had created a page on Instagram to propagate, motivate, radicalise and recruit gullible Muslim youths for ISIS," the statement added. "She had also radicalized other accused in the case name her cousin Mus'Hab Anwar, Shifa Harris and was motivating them to join ISIS."

NIA claimed that another arrested woman, Shifa Harris, also had an affiliation with the ISIS terror module and she was willing to perform 'Hijra' (Arabic for emigration) to ISIS controlled territory for joining the terrorist group.

"On directions of accused Mus'Hab Anwar and Mizha Siddeeque, Shifa had transferred funds to Mohammed Waqar Lone alias Wilson Kashmiri for supporting ISIS activities," the national counter-terrorist task force said in the statement.

"Further investigation in the case continues," it added.