It is unsettling learning about the news headlines pointing to the rising covert links between ISIS and Kerala. On Thursday, the central investigation agency revealed that the ISIS terrorists arrested in Delhi made clandestine visits to both Kasaragod and Kannur. According to reports, the gang might have camped in the deep jungles of Kannur and Kasaragod to carry out experiments with explosives. Apart from this, they spent several months in Goa, Andhra, and Karnataka forest areas and conducted explosion experiments.

The onus also falls on the state department to hasten work to investigate the links that the extremists harbored with Kerala. The people who played lackey and assisted the gangs in conducting the furtive works should also be found out. The revelation from the central agencies is an expose on the still continuing sleeper cell network of ISIS in Kerala. Three terrorists who planned to carry out extreme blasts including in Delhi during Navratri have been arrested. They were arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police with the help of central agencies. Mohammad Shanwaz Alam, and Mohammad Arshad, both natives of Jharkhand, and Mohammad Rizwan, a native of Lucknow are the arrested terrorists.

On the night of October 1, a police team arrived at Alam's house in Jaipur and caught him in an encounter. The two others were later nabbed from Uttar Pradesh. While questioning, the three confessed their aim to build an ISIS state module centered around Kasaragod in Kerala. Syed Nabeel Ahmed, a native of Mullassery, who formed the module in Thrissur, was earlier arrested. All three arrested are members of the Pakistan-based ISIS terror group.

In yet another alarming revelation, the gang also prepared a hit list that included names of prominent leaders and VIPs of India. The gang was monitoring the movement of some prominent VIPs and political leaders. They have been found to have hideouts in Delhi, UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The gang selected Kerala as the best hideout destination for the fact that the state witnesses a daily influx of thousands of migrant workers and it could allow the gang to mix with them evading police scrutiny.

On another note, Kerala police should drop the languid approach and should coordinate with the central agencies to eradicate the jihad terror. According to NIA, the Elathur train arson arrested Shahrukh Saifi did the crime taking inspiration from jihad. For many political wins, such cases are being subdued as isolated, but it is the need for the people of the state to live happily and in security. The burgeoning rise of fringe elements in the state is concerning and the police need to curtail the rise, for the state.