Headlines
Indians deported from Turkey let off with warning
Bengaluru, Feb 2
A nine-member Indian group,
which was deported from Turkey and detained here on arrival Jan 30, has
been set free with a stern warning against making attempts in future to
engage in social activities in areas controlled by the Islamic State
militant group, a top police official said Monday.
"We let them
off, as no incriminating material (documents) or any evidence was found
against them. No case was registered but they were warned against making
such attempts in future," Bengaluru police commissioner M.N. Reddi told
reporters here.
During interrogation by the city crime branch
sleuths, the group members admitted they planned to engage in social
activities in Syria and other areas controlled by the IS.
"We
wanted to help thousands of citizens, especially women and children
caught in strife-torn Iraq and Syria," an investigating officer quoted
one of the group members as saying during interrogation.
Reddi
said the members "were influenced by religious books and believed that
they would go to heaven if they fight and die for Islam".
The group was stopped at the Turkish border while attempting to cross over to Syria and deported to Bengaluru Jan 30.
Of
those deported were 46-year-old Muhammed Abdul Ahad, his wife and five
children from Chennai, 24-year-old Javed Baba from Khammam district of
Telangana and 24-year-old Ibrahim Nowfal from Hassan in Karnataka.
Ahad,
who has a master's degree in computer science from Kennedy-Western
University in California, worked in the US for over a decade, while
Javeed and Nowfal are engineers.