NEW DELHI -- The number of Indians who have joined the Islamic State now stands at 25, according to the Indian government.
Citing a government official, The Hindu reported that two more men of Indian origin allegedly travelled to Iraq-Syria recently to fight alongside the IS, taking the total number of Indians who have joined to 25.
Till August, the number of Indians in the IS stood at 17. Six of them are reportedly dead.
India does not have a one punishment fits all approach to those who join ISIS, but rather it decides whether to press terrorism charges on a case-to-case basis.
At a meeting to discuss terror financing held recently in Paris, India recommended a “non-discriminatory and undifferentiated action” against all terror groups including the IS, the newspaper reported.
Intelligence agencies are reportedly monitoring social media platforms since the Internet, so far, has been the only mode of recruitment for the IS.
Three Hyderabad-based cousins, who planned to join "jihadi terror groups", were picked from Nagpur international airport while on their way to Srinagar on Saturday. They were allegedly influenced by online ISIS propaganda.
Two of the three young men, who were arrested in Nagpur, were also stopped at the Kolkata airport before they could leave the country, last year, The Hindu reported. The tip off came from their parents on both occasions.
“We have not decided yet whether to slap terror charges against the three. The parents of the two school dropouts had kept a strict surveillance since they came back from Kolkata, and they were not allowed access to mobile phones or the Internet. They were reportedly radicalised by their maternal uncle, who has been the president of the Students Islamic Movement of India, a banned outfit. While they were under watch, they convinced a cousin of theirs to travel to Srinagar where they could meet some Hurriyat leaders to join jihad. They had no idea whether the Hurriyat had any links to the IS at all,” said the officer.
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