Mumbai trio on ISIS rolls, suspect cops

Chennai

Three youths from Mumbai who have been missing for some time are suspected to have joined terror outfit Islamic State (IS). “Our probe is on to ascertain this,” Malvani police station’s senior inspector Milind Khetle said.

The three youths are identified as Ayaz Sultan (23), Mohsin Sheikh (26) and Wajid Sheikh (25), all residents of Malvani area in western suburb of Mumbai. An official of the Anti-Terrorism Squad said they suspect that the three youths have been radicalised into joining the Islamic State, and added that the ATS is probing the matter.

While Sultan went missing on October 30, the other two have been missing since December 16, the ATS official said. According to Khetle, Sultan told his parents that he had to go to Pune in connection with a job offer he got from a Kuwait-based firm. Mohsin left home saying he was going to attend a friend’s wedding.

Wajid left home the same day saying he had to get the name on his Aadhar card corrected, the police officer said. An ATS official said they tried to crack the password of the email accounts of the three missing youths, but have not been successful as yet.

Based on statements of family members of the three youths, it appears they were highly radicalised, police said. Notably, in May last year, four youths from Kalyan township in neighbouring Thane district had gone to Syria to join the IS. One of them, Areeb Majeed, returned and is currently in NIA custody while the whereabouts of the other three were not yet known.