One More Youth Arrested in Tamil Nadu for Supplying ISIS T-shirts

One more person was arrested in Tamil Nadu on Monday in relation to the case of a photo that showed youths wearing T-shirts with the emblem of the Islamic State, the militant outfit previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Just on Sunday, the police had arrested one person for printing and selling the T-shirts.

The police had taken Abdul Rahman, believed to be the main supplier of the T-shirts, into custody on Sunday, and arrested Mohammed Rinwan on Monday night for allegedly making arrangements to supply the T-shirts to youths. Both have been remanded to judicial custody, Superintendent of Police Mayilvahanan told the Press Trust of India.

The 22-year-old Rahman had reportedly also used social media such as Facebook to instigate youth to join the militant outfit. He had appeared in a photo believed to have been taken during the period of Ramzan, wherein he along with other youths were seen standing in front of a mosque in Ramanathapuram district wearing T-shirts with the ISIS emblem.

Rahman has, however, told the police that the photo with the T-shirts was taken as a gesture of gratitude towards ISIS for releasing the Indian nurses from Iraq without harm, PTI reported. Police said that while the youths who posed for the photo did not have any links with any terrorist organization, "they were being monitored and warned severely".

This is not the first time that youths in India are reported to have been influenced by ISIS.

In March, Haja Fakkurudeen, a 37-year-old from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu had joined the militant group, the Times of India had reported. Last month, the Mumbai police had identified a Thane-based businessman for radicalizing four youths who are believed to have joined ISIS.

ISIS has established an Islamic Caliphate in the captured regions of Iraq and Syria that it seized over the last few months.