The NIA arrested the three alleged al Qaeda operatives from various places in Ernakulam on Saturday. Iyakub Biswas, Murshid Hasan and Musharraf Hussain were among the nine men taken into custody on Saturday after the NIA busted an inter-state al Qaeda module. Here's how the three were nabbed from Ernakulam.
Iyakub Biswas
Iyakub Biswas was working at a restaurant in Kandanthara for two months preparing porotta (flatbread made from maida flour). The work timings at the shop, which sells porotta in wholesale and in retail, is from 2 am to 9 pm. He was taken into custody by an NIA team around 2 pm on Saturday while he was at work. He had come to Kandanthara from Adimali in Idukki about two months ago.
Iyakub Biswas' brother Rupal is an employee of a hotel in Odakkali.
Immediately after taking him into custody, the NIA took Biswas and Titan Mondal, a resident of Murshidabad who was with him, to the place of their residence nearby. Another Murshidabad native Mainul Sarkar also resided with him.
According to the shop owner, Biswas worked in a chapati shop at Ayiram Acre near Adimali from February 2019 to June 3. But locals say he was there till July.
Murshid Hasan: Arrested after breaking door
An NIA team broke open the door of a rented house at Pathalam in Kalamassery after ensuring that all the guest workers there were asleep and caught Murshid Hassan from the room he occupied.
The NIA took all the occupants of the rented house into custody to question them and later released them.
Murshid did not have a regular job. He worked at building construction sites and at tea shops. He was involved in the construction of many nearby houses.
Musharraf Hussain: Caught in his sleep
Musharraf Hussain worked as a salesman at a clothing store in Perumbavoor. He was arrested early in the morning on Saturday from his rented house near Mudikkal in Vanchinad. He lived with his wife and two children who are students.
The NIA team, which arrived in private vehicles and a police van, took him into custody with the help of the local police after waking him up from sleep.
Musharraf lived at Pallikavala near Perumbavoor and moved to Vanchinad three months ago, where he lived in a quarters with five houses. The remaining houses are inhabited by Malayalee families.