Rajasthan ATS arrests city man for funding IS

A seven-member team, headed by Additional Superintendent of Police, apprehended Haroon Rashid (36), a resident of Seven Wells, who ran a cell phone SIM store on Wall Tax Road, for allegedly donating Rs 70,000 to the IS, with the help of Jameel Mohammed from Rajasthan and Mohammed Iqbal from Mylapore. 

Jameel was arrested near the Rajasthan border in November last year, and the Rajasthan ATS, along with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Tiruvallur police, had arrested Iqbal in February this year, when he along with four others was smuggling gold in an omni bus from Rajahmundry to Chennai. Another gang member, hailing from Chennai, is on the run. He escaped on Monday night. 

The ATS team took Iqbal back to Rajasthan from Puzhal prison where he was lodged, after producing a PT warrant. Jameel and Iqbal on further interrogation revealed Rashid’s and the other youth’s names. The police team arrived in the city on Monday and arrested Rashid. 

“Iqbal, Rashid and the absconding accused donated funds to IS with the help of an operative in Saudi Arabia and had made multiple trips to the Gulf country,” a senior officer told DTNext. After his arrest, Iqbal had told ATS members that he would frequently travel abroad to undergo training in football. He admitted to having paid money to IS thrice, claiming that he thought the money was to help poor children, sources said. 

Sources also said Rashid had come in contact with IS through Iqbal. In his confessional statement, the accused told the investigators that he paid the money through Iqbal and Jameel to an operative in Saudi Arabia. Sources said more arrests of such sympathisers from the city were likely as the network seemed to be well-entrenched in the city and other parts of the state. The ATS team took Rashid to Jaipur from Chennai on Tuesday morning.