Intelligence officials say Swedish national Abu-Hafz-Al-Swedi recruited arrested ISIS terrorist Subahani Haja Moideen, and may be recruiting others in India
A Swedish national has emerged as the main recruiter of Subahani Haja Moideen, a Tamil Nadu resident who was arrested by the National Investigation agency (NIA) on terror charges earlier this month. The 31-year-old was arrested in October this year, almost a year after he returned home from Mosul in Iraq, where he had been a part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
According to intelligence sources, Moideen, during interrogation, said an ISIS fighter—who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu-Hafz-Al-Swedi—was his main contact person and helped him make the journey from India to Raqqa in Syria.
Sources in the investigative agency said the NIA is likely to contact Swedish authorities to seek information on Swedi, as his name has cropped up for the first time during the course of their crackdown on alleged ISIS sympathisers in India. Officials said the NIA is ascertaining whether or not Swedi is in touch with other Indian nationals as well.
Moideen, a resident of Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli, had left his home in 2015, after selling a piece of land he owned and boarded a flight from Chennai to Turkey. Swedi seems to have directed Moideen to meet some of his ISIS contacts in Istanbul and, after laying low in a safe house, the 31-year-old made his journey to Raqqa along with men who had come from other countries like Pakistan, Morocco and Russia.
Swedi, whose real identity is yet to be ascertained, is the first ISIS recruiter to have actually met an Indian national fighting for the terror group, officials told DNA. "Moideen has claimed he was one of the rare Indian fighters to have actually met and worked with his recruiter directly. He claims that before him no other Indian working for ISIS actually met the person who brought him there," said an official.
According to a senior investigation officer, Moideen was introduced to Swedi in Tell Abyad, Syria, where he was given training in arms as well as lessons on Sharia enforcement. He then went through a two-week combat training session where he was injured. Subsequently, he was given the duty of a security guard, where he guarded tents of ISIS militants on a salary of $100 per month.
"Moideen had received basic training in explosives manufacturing and operating an AK-47, but owing to his physical health he was taken off before his leader could send him to fight. He continued to work as a security guard and would collect his salary straight from an individual whom he identifies as Abu-Hafz-Al-Swedi," the officer told DNA.
He added that eventually Moideen had to flee to Mosul along with other ISIS terrorists. This was due to the outfit losing territory in battles waged in Raqqa, Syria.
Moideen claimed that after he saw the brutalities perpetrated by ISIS in Mosul, he began asking his superiors to allow him to leave the group. Following this, he says that he was imprisoned in a jail managed by ISIS.
With the help of some other detainees, Moideen managed to escape Mosul and travel to Turkey. In Istanbul, he contacted the Indian consulate and told them that he had lost his passport. Arrangements were made and he returned to India via Mumbai on September 22, 2015. He went to his ancestral place in Kadaynallur, Tirunelveli, where he was staying with his wife. Intelligence agencies say that he got in touch with his ISIS handlers again, following which he was arrested.
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