With the arrest of Subahani Haja Moideen, the alleged ISIS operative arrested from Tamil Nadu, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is claiming to have nabbed one of the most prominent Islamic State recruits from the country. Moideen, originally from Idukki in Kerala, was picked up from Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) a few days back as he was preparing to carry out attacks in south India along with an IS module in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Unable to withstand the violence and war misery in Mosul he and decided to flee, only to end up in an ISIS jail, before he was allowed to cross over to Turkey from where he contacted his family with the help of the Indian consulate at Istanbul.

Once back in India he managed to get a job at a jewellery shop, and soon got back in touch with the IS handlers and was planning explosions in South India.

His arrest also came days after NIA arrested six people in Kerala's Kannur for involvement in an IS-inspired group which called itself the Ansar-ul-Khilafah.