ISIS recruit from Kalyan talks: Worked towards making Raqqa in Syria a free Wi-Fi city

Areeb Majeed, who is currently being detained by security officials at a secret location in Mumbai, has also claimed that there was a fifth youth who wanted to join the original group of four that left Thane for Iraq but dropped out virtually at the last minute.

Among the other interesting nuggets that Majeed gave the interrogators was that he was briefly engaged in a project to make Raqqa, the main base of IS in Syria, a free WiFi city and that he was paid US$50 per month by the group, in addition to free food and lodging.

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Abu Umar al Shishani, the dreaded Chechen commander on whose recommendation Majeed claimed he was recruited, is also believed to have played a key role in getting UK nationals to join Islamic State. However, there have been reports this month of Shishani’s death following a post on Instagram on December 4 by Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia’s Chechen Republic, that claimed the militant’s killing without providing any details.

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As for the fifth youth who dropped out, sources said that investigators would record his statement to be used as evidence against Majeed.

Sources added that Majeed has given investigators a blow-by-blow account of his journey to Iraq, his recruitment to IS, and the operations he participated in.

Apart from attempting a suicide bombing in a car, taking part in the fight to capture Mosul Dam and the WiFi project, Majeed has claimed that he was engaged in constructing an underground shelter against air strikes in Raqqa, sources revealed.

Recounting his journey from Thane and the events that unfolded in the days that followed, Majeed told interrogators that he and the other three – Amaan Tandel, Fahad Shaikh and Saheem Tanki – boarded an Etihad Airways flight on May 24 for Abu Dhabi and travelled onward to Baghdad.

Having secured a Ziyarat (pilgrimage) visa, they spent six days in Iraq visiting holy shrines. Majeed then contacted a local liaison Abu Fatima whom he was introduced to on Facebook by Fahad. On May 29, he was instructed by Abu Fatima to reach Mosul, where he met a person identified only as Ali who took them to his house, contacted Shishani and introduced them.

Ali then took the four to the Kurdish town of Moujamma Jazira, where they stayed for 10 days with around 30 IS fighters. Here, they were given Arabic names – Abul Ali al Hindi (Majeed), Abu Usman al Hindi (Saheem), Abu Bakr al Hindi (Fahad) and Abu Mar al Hindi (Amaan). Within a week, they were taken to Raqqa.

On June 14, the four were interviewed in detail before they were taken to another town, Sherre Moaskar, where they underwent training for 15 days in the use of AK47 rifles by two others whom Majeed identified as Abu Musa and Abu Mohammed Massi.

The next stage of training began on June 29 and lasted for another 15 days. From July 14, they received training in formation tactics and close combat, following which they were allowed to retain their AK47 rifles and 30 live rounds.

Majeed was sent to Raqqa, where he participated in the WiFi project, and shifted to Mosul two days later. Here, he sustained a leg injury in an air strike before moving to Tal Afar for training in arms and explosives. Three days later, heavily armed, he returned to join the fight for Mosul Dam against Kurdish forces, and sustained a bullet injury on his right arm. Taken for dead, after he had fallen unconscious, the IS media wing announced the news of his death on its website.

On regaining consciousness, however, Majeed was treated at a hospital in Tal Afar for eight days. On his recovery, he was sent to Kurdistan for 20 days, where he learned to fire mortar shells. He then went to Kirkafir and attempted a suicide bombing in a car packed with explosives. However, the car was fired upon and he was injured again, this time on his right hand.

In mid-October, Majeed met an IS emir, identified as Nizar, in Mosul University and asked to be sent to Syria to die as a martyr. He left on October 15 and reached Raqqa the following day. On October 18, he met Fahad and Amaan in Raqqa. He then joined the IS’s civil engineering department and started work on the underground shelter.

On October 21, Majeed contacted his sister through Skype and spoke to his entire family who only then realised that he was still alive. One month later, Majeed met another IS emir named Abu Hamman Iraqi and pleaded with him to send him home.

On November 23, Majeed told interrogators, he was granted permission to leave and reached Jerablus by car two days later. He was then escorted to the Turkey border, from where he took a bus to reach Istanbul on November 26. The next day, he reached Mumbai on a Turkish Airways flight.