THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the arrest and deportation of Ibrahim Asif, a Maldivian, on April 24, the State police and Central agencies have foiled an attempt by religious fundamentalist groups based in the U.K. and Male to procure arms from Kerala and use them against prominent religious centres and Government functionaries in the Maldives, official sources said.

Highly-placed Government sources told The Hindu that Asif, who had been doing "religious work" among the tsunami-affected people at Puttalam in Sri Lanka earlier, intended to procure weapons and explosives from the State using tsunami relief funds collected in the U.K.

His plan was to ship the arms and explosives later to the Maldives in a consignment of construction material from a seaport either in Kerala or Tamil Nadu. Certain extremist groups in the Maldives were seeking arms and explosives to target the "the Islamic Centre (a landmark religious centre in Male) and a top ranking official in the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Maldives" and Asif was probably acting as an agent, sources said.

A top official said Asif had come to India on April 9 under the pretext of visiting his seven-year-old nephew who is housed in an orphanage in Kollam district. He arrived in Kerala on a tourist visa from Sri Lanka. Intelligence and police agencies already had information that Asif could be using tsunami relief funds collected by the Jama'ah Tul Muslimeen, a U.K.-based religious fundamentalist group for purchasing arms for anti-Maldivian Government operations.

Making contact

On the basis of the tip-off, the State police and Intelligence officials trapped him at an undisclosed location in Kerala.

According to official sources, in this instance, Asif was looking for a long-range sniper rifle with telescopic sight and explosives. His activities were secretly monitored for some days before he was picked up by the State police for questioning.

The police have also found out that Asif had visited Karachi in Pakistan in 2004. Official sources said that he had been in touch with certain fundamentalist groups working against the Pakistani Government.

Security agencies suspect that the plot to purchase weapons from Kerala for use in the Maldives was set into motion in Karachi in 2004. In 2000, Asif had been arrested by the National Security Service of the Maldivian Government on the charge of anti-national activities.

The Intelligence agencies believe that Asif is part of a 75-member "dormant unit" of the U.K. based Jama'ah Tul Muslimeen in the Maldives.

The unit is also suspected to have links with certain Wahabi Movement activists. Asif is also thought to have made a "futile attempt" to recruit some persons in Kerala. An intelligence operation is now on to unearth possible links of the organisation in India.

As reported earlier, Asif was detained in Thiruvananthapuram on April 21 on the charge of "undesirable and suspicious" activities.

The District Collector had served him a notice to leave India under Section 3 (2) (c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946 on the basis of report given by the City Police Commissioner.

He was deported to Maldives on April 24. Asif has since been arrested in Maldives on the charge of anti-national activities.

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