Thiruvananthapuram: The arrest of three al Qaeda operatives in Ernakulam by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) points to the failure of the state intelligence in dealing with terror groups.
The NIA's Delhi office coordinated with the agency’s Kochi and Bengal units without taking the Kerala police into confidence. The NIA sought the help of the Kochi police only on Friday night. And only on Saturday did the police find out that those taken into custody were al Qaeda operatives.
The absence of heads for the anti-terrorist squad and internal security wing for months has also seriously affected the work of the police. The anti-terrorist squad was formed with the sole purpose of detecting and preventing terrorist activities in the state. It was under the control of an SP. But it has been functioning without a chief for months.
Similarly, a DIG and an SP were in charge of internal security under the intelligence ADGP. Both these chairs are also vacant.
The police monitor the phone and social media interactions to keep a tab on the activities involving Malayalees and pass on the information to those working in the cyberdome of the Kerala police. But the cyberdome could not obtain any indication of the motives of the al Qaeda operatives because they communicated in Bengali.
Only one person was registered with police
Only one of the three arrested persons had provided his identity documents to the police station while registering as guest worker.
The law requires guest workers to get themselves registered at the nearest police station. Of those arrested, only Mosaraf Hossen's documents are with the police. They were provided by the labour contractor for whom Hossen, who has been living in Perumbavoor for years, worked. The contractors of the other two had not provided the necessary details, the police said.
The police and the labour department had started the process of collecting details of guest workers when there were problems in relief camps at the beginning of the COVID lockdown. However, this process stopped when COVID became widespread.
Earlier, details of the guest workers were collected following the killing of a law student in Perumbavoor, but there was no follow-up action.
Police told about operation only at midnight
The NIA informed the police about the operation to nab the terror operatives only at midnight on Friday. The agency said it needed the police help to carry out the operation although it did not reveal what the operation was about.
Besides personnel from the city and rural police districts, a striking force of the district police chiefs and control room staff took part in the operation.