Sept. 11, 2015

The Police at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on Friday arrested a woman who allegedly influenced Hyderabad resident Salman Mohiuddin to join the Islamic State.

Afsha Jabeen, 38, alias Nicole alias Nicky Joseph, who was thought to be a British national is actually from Hyderabad’s Tolichowki area. On January 16 this year, Salman Mohiuddin was arrested by the police just before he boarded a flight to Dubai with the intention of joining the Islamic State. Officials said that he had planned to travel to Syria via Turkey.

Salman had told officials that he opened several Facebook accounts along with one Nicky Joseph, who he first claimed was a British national living in Dubai. Salman also added that Nicky Joseph had influenced and invited him to join her in Dubai in order to go to Syria. Both of them indoctrinated and motivated several youth via social media platform to get attracted towards the activities of ISIS and jihad.

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During investigation it was found that Nicky Joseph was not a British national but in fact, is an Indian and her real name is Afsha Jabeen hailing from Towlichowki area of Hyderabad. A graduate of Shadan College, she is married and was living with her husband in Dubai where she got attracted to IS and started recruiting people to join them.

She befriended Salman and both of them were actively involved in indoctrinating youth, official says. “She arrived from Dubai on Friday morning and we have arrested her as co-accused in the Salman Mohiuddin case,’’ an official said.

Salman Mohiuddin, 32, a resident of Bazaar Ghat under Habeebnagar Police Station in Hyderabad, was arrested this January by Hyderabad Police from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on suspicion that he was flying to Dubai, and from there to Syria via Turkey, intending to join the Islamic State.

Officials say, the tip-off came directly from a US intelligence agency which was monitoring Salman’s movements ever since he left US last October after he was denied a visa extension. Salman’s father, Ahmad Mohiuddin is a garments trader. Salman, who worked at several places including a car rental firm and pharmaceutical compamy in Houston for last many years, had come to Hyderabad last October.

In 2011, he joined the Texas Southern University for a MS degree in Transportation Planning and Management and after passing out, was working with the private firms in Houston, mostly as a sales executive. He had earlier completed his B.Tech (ECE 2002-08 batch) from Anwarul-Uloom College of Engineering and Technology at Vikarabad, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Officials said that a US intelligence agency was keeping a watch on Salman’s movements after finding that he was frequently visiting the websites of ISIS and jihadi websites. “He had also left messages on ISIS websites and on social media pages of jihadi groups in Syria,’’ an official said.

Police detained a 32-year-old man at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad early on Friday on the suspicion that he was flying out of the country to join the jihadi group Islamic State (IS).

Police alleged that Salman Mohiuddin, who returned from the US last October, was to fly to Dubai from where he planned to reach Syria via Turkey to join IS. Officials said the tip-off came directly from a US intelligence agency, which had been monitoring his movements ever since he left the US after being denied a visa extension.

Son of a garments trader, Ahmad Mohiuddin, Salman is a resident of Bazaar Ghat under Habeebnagar Police Station in Hyderabad. He completed his B.Tech in 2008 from Anwarul-Uloom College of Engineering and Technology at Vikarabad on the outskirts of the city. In 2011, he went to the US and joined the Texas Southern University for a Master of Science degree in Transportation Planning and Management.

After completing studies, Salman worked mostly as a sales executive at several places in Houston, including a car rental firm and pharmaceutical company. Officials said he came on the radar of US intelligence agencies after he started visiting websites of IS and other jehadi groups. “He had also left messages on IS websites and on social media pages of jehadi groups in Syria,” an official said.
The official said, “Salman got married before he left for Houston. He claims he has a British girlfriend who also decided to go with him to Syria via Turkey to join IS. That is yet to be confirmed.”

Another official said, “During his stay in the US, he came in touch with a woman named Nicky Joseph alias Ayesha, a British Muslim fundamentalist. We suspect that she is his recruiter and handler.” Officials said Salman and Nicky started taking interest in IS activities last year and their discussions online on that subject were monitored and documented by intelligence agencies.

“They also created various social networking groups under pseudo names and started propaganda and attracting people who were interested in IS,” an official said. “In the last week of October, when Salman was denied visa by US authorities, he returned to India and continued his activities. During his stay here, he tried to attract youth across the country through the social media with an intention of taking them to Syria and Iraq. Further, he intended to undergo training in Syria and after returning wanted to indulge in anti-national activities in the country.”

On October 29 last year, a 26-year-old former Google employee, Munawad Salman, was detained and put under police surveillance after intelligence agencies suspected that he was traveling to Saudi Arabia with the intention of going to Iraq to join IS.