The  National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted searches at seven locations in Kerala in connection with its probe against alleged members of proscribed terrorist outfit Jund Al Aqsa who are suspected to be in war-torn Syria, an official said. The houses searched in the Thrissur and Kozhikode districts of the state belong to Mohammed Faaz, Mohammed Ihthisham, Abdul Sameeh, Rayees Rehiman, Nabeel Mohammed, Mohamed Shaheen and Mohammed Ameer, an NIA spokesperson said.

The case was registered suo-motu by the NIA in January 2019 under sections of the IPC and the UAPA against six accused -- Hashir Mohammed of Ernakulam; Sidhikul Akbar of Malappuram; Muhammed Irfan of Kannur; Thaha Mohammed of Shimoga district, Karnataka; Sultan Abdulla, of Kozhikode and Fayez Farooq of Thrissur, the official said. These people, while being in Qatar, had conspired from 2013 onwards, conducted preparations or travelled to Syria and joined the proscribed terrorist organizations Jund AL Aqsa or Jabhat AL Nusrah, the NIA official said.

Mohammed Faaz, Mohammed Ihthisham, Abdul Sameeh, Rayees Rehiman, Nabeel Mohammed, Mohammed Shaheen and Mohammed Ameer, while being in Qatar till early-2019, were in contact with the accused Sidhikul Akbar and had provided funds to the fugitives based in Syria, the official said.

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