The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested the four men last month.
Columbus:
Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said on Friday that there is no evidence to support claims that the four Sri Lankans arrested in India last month are linked to ISIS.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad claimed to have arrested four Sri Lankans with links to ISIS at Ahmedabad airport. The four men boarded an Indigo flight from Colombo to Chennai on May 19, they said.
On May 31, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan police arrested Pushparaja Osman, 46, in Colombo, whom they called the alleged handler of the four arrested in India.
However, on Friday, Minister Sabry denied that any of the Sri Lankan nationals detained in India had any links with the terrorist organization.
“There is no evidence to support the allegations that the four Sri Lankans arrested in India are linked to ISIS. The four (Sri Lankans) are believed to be linked to drug smuggling and not terrorism,” Sabry said at a press conference here.
Following Osman’s arrest, commenting on investigations so far, police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said police were unable to verify whether the four were linked to ISIS.
“It has not yet been established that they were promoting ISIS ideology in Sri Lanka,” he said.
Last month, Sri Lankan authorities launched a powerful operation to investigate four Sri Lankans detained in Gujarat.
Authorities say they will not take any risks from possible ISIS activity on the island following the 2019 Easter Sunday attack, which killed more than 270 people, including 11 Indians.
Among the individuals detained in Gujarat, Mohammed Nusrat is a businessman involved in importing telecommunications devices and electrical equipment from countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.
Mohammad Nafran has been identified as the son of the first wife of Niyas Naufer aka ‘Potta Naufer’, the notorious underworld criminal who was sentenced to death for killing High Court judge Sarath Ambepitiya.
Of the other two Sri Lankans arrested, Mohammad Faris worked as a ‘Nattami’ or cart puller in Pettah and was arrested by the Colombo Crime Branch on March 11, 2023 and November 1 of the same year.
On May 21, his close associate Hameed Amir was arrested by the Terrorist Investigations Division. Mohammad Faris left for Chennai on 19 May.
The other suspect is Mohammad Rashdeen, a three-wheeler driver. Law enforcement suspects him of being linked to methamphetamine trafficking or ICE.
On 16 September 2022, Rashdeen was arrested by the Foreshore Police and later released on bail.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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