ATS nabs 'IS-bound' Telangana cousins in Nagpur; last year, cops had counselled trio

Three Hyderabad-based cousins, reportedly on their way to join the Islamic State (IS), were picked up by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Saturday at the Nagpur international airport and handed over to the Telangana police.

A senior Telangana intelligence officer made it clear that the trio have only been picked up and not arrested.

Hasan Farooq, Saeed Umar Farooq and Abdul Basit were picked up around 5:30 am when they were about to board a Srinagar-bound flight.

The three got attracted to online IS propaganda last year. When the police learnt about it, they caught them and counselled the three.

According to an officer from the Chandrayangutta police station in Hyderabad, "A complaint was received from one Mohammad Abdul Arif, father of one of the youths and a businessman, on December 24. Arif, son Basit and other members of the family had gone to attend a function at the Nalgonda area. They returned the same night and the family members retired to their respective rooms. After sometime when the complainant woke up, he found Basit missing. He then informed the police."

"They have a jihadi. We do not know of anything which can suggest that they were in touch with the IS people," the intelligence officer told PTI.

Basit is a third-year B Tech student. While Saeed is a final year B.Sc student, Hasan is an engineering dropout.

—with inputs from PTI