Hyderabad: A 32-year-old US returned engineer was arrested at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here while he was allegedly on his way to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) along with his girlfriend, who lives in Dubai.
The youth, Salman Moinuddin, was also an active recruiter for ISIS, police said. Sleuths of Telangana state intelligence said they had been tracking Moinuddin through his online activities following a tip-off from Central agencies.
Moinuddin reportedly planned to join his girlfriend, Ayesha, in Dubai from where they were to proceed to Syria and establish links with ISIS militants. Ayesha is a British national. She was formerly known as Nicky Joseph alias Nicole before she converted to Islam, police said. The accused, Moinuddin, had lived in the US for about four years, including a stint in Houston, Texas, and is said to have an MS degree in electronics from Texas Southern University.
“As per our information, after his studies, Moinuddin was doing odd jobs during which time he got indoctrinated in ISIS ideology online and decided to join them. Moinuddin and Ayesha created various Facebook groups under fictitious names and spread the ISIS ideology with the intention of attracting followers,” a source said.
“After he was denied a visa extension, Moinuddin returned to Hyderabad in October last year and during the last two months, lured several youths across the country to join ISIS and wanted to take them to Syria.” While Moinuddin worked from Hyderabad, Ayesha was based in Dubai, sources said.
