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.

According to investigators Moideen has reportedly admitted to his involvement with the dreaded terror outfit, including receiving training in Sharia and combat while he was in Mosul.

Moideen claims he left home to fight for the organisation on April 8, 2015.

"I told my parents and wife I was going to perform Umrah (pilgrimage). As guided by my handlers, I travelled to Iraq via Istanbul after taking a flight from Chennai on a visit visa."

"I was trained in a batch of 30-35 recruits, mostly foreign fighters from Afghanistan, Australia, Lebanon, Pakistan and other countries, and my trainer was an Afghan national. It was a hard training schedule during which we were kept in small rooms and trained from morning till evening," Moideen told the investigators.

The 31-year-old who was then deployed to fight a war said he was being paid $100 a month during the time.