Indian media reports 100 hour Indo-US op to stop 12 Maldivians joining IS
Indian media has reported details of an Indo-US operation to stop 12 Maldivians leaving India to join the Islamic State Group (IS Group).
The operation that lasted nearly 100 hours according to Indian media, had a team of Mumbai police hot on the family's tail until the operation was called off after the 12 managed to get on Qatar Airways flight QR 673 to Istanbul via Doha on December 13.
The family was last tracked in Istanbul of January 13, when they are suspected to have dumped their phones before leaving either for Iraq or Syria.
"The family was of special interest to the US because one of them, Abdulla Mubarak, is a certified pilot from Miami Federal Aviation Administration Department and could be used for a 9/11-type operation by IS, or Daesh as the group is referred to, for India the threat is long-term - the risk of a neighbouring country turning into Jihadi outpost." reported the Mumbai Mirror.
The family's arrival in Bangalore on December 7 on a health visa and their eventual exit would have gone unnoticed, had the US intelligence agencies had not alerted their Indian counterparts, sparking off a chase that was monitored in two countries, involved multiple agencies, and had some of India's senior most police and intelligence officials on their toes.
Mumbai Police Commissioner DattaPadsalgikar, who was in the know of the operation, on Thursday confirmed the Maldivian family incident.
Though the family entered India on medical visas, the investigating teams have found that none of them visited any hospital or medical facility during the time they spent here.
Indian and US intelligence officials together now have a fat dossier on the family. Five members of the family from the GaafAlif Atoll, Kondey Island were radicalised by a Male-based organisation called JamiatulSalaf, according to the India and US intelligence sources.
The five have been identified as Abdulla Mubarak (the trained pilot) 30; MuizzHasan, 28; Ahmed Azmeer, 32; Zoona Zareer, 27; and Zahida Zareer, 30.
Indian officials have information that the family's head Mohammad Isa had tried to raise a red flag by lodging a complaint with the local Male authorities. However, nobody paid heed to his complaint.
The 12 arrived in India on Air India flight AI 266 on December 7 and spent six days in the country before leaving for Istanbul. It is possible that some members of the family may have visited other parts of the country before the Indian agencies were alerted about their presence in Bangalore.
