Police claim ISIS recruit Areeb Majeed is a trained suicide bomber

India’s intelligence agencies worst fears came true when the ISIS recruit from Kalyan, Areeb Majeed revealed to authorities that he has been trained by Islamic State jihadists to carry out suicide attacks. [caption id=“attachment_1839565” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Areeb Majeed. IBNLive[/caption] According to this report in t_he Times of India_, Majeed revealed he was provided training in suicide bombing as well as the use of sophisticated weaponry. He made these revelations after he was confronted by authorities with results of his lie-detector test, after which he broke down and admitted he had a larger role in ISIS. The police, though, are still verifying his claims. “He says he attempted to take an explosive-laden vehicle near a few vital installations in Syria with the aim of attracting security forces towards him. The idea was to blow up the vehicle when enough men in uniform were around him. However, the suspicious security at these places completely avoided him, defeating the purpose. We are trying to verify his claims,” a security establishment officer told TOI. The revelations are a complete U-turn from his earlier statement to authorities wherein he said he was sidelined by the jihadists and was made to do domestic work,  The Times of India had reported.

Asked for how many months he participated in the battle on the ground, the 23-year-old ISIS “recruit” said he was completely ignored and asked to clean the toilets and arrange water for those battling with the security forces. He told the investigators that despite his immediate supervisor’s request, the ISIS cadres did not allow him to participate in the battle.

Given his changing statements, on Monday, the NIA and the Intelligence Bureau that are currently interrogating him were given an extension till 22 December by a Mumbai court. Majeed, an engineering student from Kalyan near Mumbai, had fled to Iraq in May, along with three friends Fahad Sheikh, Shaheen Tanki and Aman Tandel. They left for Iraq on 25 May claiming they were headed for a pilgrimage. The next day, Arif’s father discovered a note from his son saying he had left to join jihadists in Iraq. Fahad, an engineer, had landed a job in Bandra two days before leaving. He told his family he was going to work and never returned, his family told the Indian Express, unable to fathom why their son took such an extreme step. Where the radicalisation of Indian Muslim youth is concerned, a recent report by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) has said that more than 300 Indian youth have been recruited by Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban and this group has joined hands with ISIS in Iraq.