An ISIS recruit arrested in India had visited Sri Lanka allegedly on missionary work, the Times of India reported.
Abid Khan, a 23-year-old Abid Khan resident of Bengaluru, lived in a church in Banjar town in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh for the last six months before he was arrested in a joint operation of the NIA and Kullu Police.
Khan was planning to reach Syria via Indonesia and had recently visited Sri Lanka.
Khan told his investigators that he was to visit Indonesia to visit an Indonesian girl, whom he termed his girlfriend. But investigators are yet to conclude on this aspect.
A mobile phone and a laptop recovered from him could lead to crucial clues into Abid’s life while he was at large.
How Khan, a Bengaluru man, reached Kullu is another story by itself.
While the NIA launched a nation-wide swoop down on the ISIS terror suspects in January this year, arresting two dozen ISIS suspects, Khan remained out of reach.
Khan’s three other associates from Bengaluru were arrested. They were identified as Asif Ali, Mohammed Afzal, Syed Mujahid but Abid Khan lay low.
Khan has told NIA sleuths and the Kullu police that he converted to Christianity in a Methodist church of Bengaluru to stay out of the radar of the agencies. The NIA will corroborate this aspect, since they are yet to formally take over the case.
After conversion, he went to Sri Lanka allegedly on a fake passport with his fake identity of Paul.
Sources told India Today that Khan went to Sri Lanka in March-April this year for a month on missionary work.
