Kuwait arrests man who funded Indian ISIS recruits’ travel to Syria

Kuwaiti has arrested one of its nationals, identified as Abdullah Hadi Abdul Rehman Al-Enezi, who had allegedly helped arrange finances for the travel of the first known batch of Islamic State recruits from India - Areeb Majeed, Fahad Sheikh, Saheem Tanki and Amand Tandel.

The Kuwaiti national is learnt to have admitted to 'terror financing' and supporting travel of ISIS recruits to the ISIS-held territory.

Reports said the arrest has been made on the basis of information provided by Indian agencies and that the Kuwaiti authorities have informed NIA through ministry of external affairs about Abdullah Hadi's arrest a few days back.

Areeb Majeed, the first IS operative to be arrested by Indian agencies, had travelled to Syria in May 2014 alongwith three other Kalyan-based youths.

Areeb, who was arrested upon his return in November the same year, had disclosed that after joining ISIS in May 2014, all four travelled to Baghdad on the pretext of a religious tour. Their travel was arranged by an Afghan national - Rehman Daulati, who is learnt to have arranged finances for other IS recruits as well. They were stuck in Iraq as they had no money left with them.

"Areeb Majeed then contacted Rehman Daulati, who gave him a phone number belonging to a Kuwaiti national, identified as Abdullah Hadi. Areeb told Abdullah that he needed money for further travelling to Syria. Abdullah told him to collect $1,000 from a Western Union Money Transfer branch in Baghdad. The four Kalyan youth took the money and then travelled to Syria," The Times of India quoted an official as saying.

Officials say that Kuwait has not only arrested Abdullah Hadi but has also verified his links with Islamic terror financing ring.

The first Islamic State recruit from India Areeb Majeed had got injured in a fight in Syria and later in a US-led bombing mission. He then decided to return to India and follow the ideology of ISIS here and carry out Jehad. He was in touch with citizens of several countries. He had also met Abu Hammam Iraqi, chief of Islamic State's Tasnia or ministry of defence and development in Raqqah, Syria.

NIA had approached 11 countries including Kuwait, US, Turkey, Luxemburg, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, China and others seeking details on contacts, finances, travel details and chats/email conversations of Areeb Majeed and three others through mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) and letter rogatories (LRs).

While US, Turkey and Luxemburg have also shared crucial evidence with India in the matter, Australia and Canada have sought assurance that Areeb Majeed will not be given "death penalty" before sharing the technical evidence.