Two men arrested in Tamil Nadu for printing ISIS t-shirts

Two men in Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu were arrested by police on Tuesday for printing and selling Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) T-shirts, according to TV reports. One of the young men, Abdul Rahman, is allegedly the main supplier whose Facebook account was also accessed by the police, according to news reports. Police said that they had found evidence on Facebook that Rahman was instigating youth in India to join ISIS. [caption id=“attachment_1649935” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] ISIS is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda which had taken over various regions in Iraq. Reuters[/caption] ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is an offshoot of al-Qaeda which has captured swathes of territory in north and central Iraq, taking weaponry from the fleeing Iraqi army. It recently renamed itself Islamic State (IS) claiming it had declared a caliphate. In a video message, IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims the world over to declare jihad and migrate to the region so the dream of forming a caliphate could be realised. This is not the first instance of youth from India supporting ISIS. Four men, Fahad Sheikh, Arif Majeed, Shaheen Tanki and Aman Tandel left for Iraq on 25 May claiming they were headed for a pilgrimage. Next day, Arif’s father discovered a note from his son saying he had left to join ISIS in Iraq. After the recent reports of radicalised youth from the city leaving to join the IS, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria had issued a circular ordering the Anti-Terror Cells at every police station in the city to remain vigilant for terror links among those reported missing. (With inputs from Reuters)