Thiruvananthapuram: The detention of nearly 10 people with alleged links to Daesh, in northern Kerala over the weekend, has raised concern about the possibility of a terror module operating in the state.
National Investigation Agency officials arrested five men from Kanakamala in Kannur district, another person from Kozhikode district and some others from Coimbatore and Tirunelveli in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state, revealing the likelihood of the presence of terrorist modules in Kerala and its neighbourhood.
The latest development comes following the revelation in May this year that more than 20 people from Kasaragod and Palakkad districts had left for Afghanistan and other Middle East nations, apparently enticed by the teachings of Daesh.
Following the arrests over the weekend, local media reported quoting NIA officials that the group that was meeting in Kanakamala had planned to eliminate key people in the state including Bharatiya Janata Party state general secretary, K. Surendran, a senior police officer, and two judges.
Surendran said in a television programme that police had given him information about the threat to his life some ten days before the gang was arrested.
The gang is also believed to have planned about a dozen attacks in Kerala, including driving a truck into a religious meeting — a plot along the lines of the terrorist attack in Paris earlier this year.
Investigators are believed to have infiltrated the social media groups of the gang and got to know their schemes.
Between May and July this year, 13 men, 6 women and 3 children are believed to have gone missing from Kerala, apparently ending up in Afghanistan. In September, it was reported that a couple among the 22, had a baby girl.
BJP state president, Kummanam Rajasekharan said he was not afraid of the threat posed by terror groups as reported this week. Rajasekharan said no leader would stop political activity because of such a threat perception.