My Son Was Going to Dubai for a Job, Says Father of Alleged IS Recruit Arrested in Hyderabad

Ahmed Mohiuddin is close to tears. His son Salman was arrested by the Telangana police early on Friday from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad as he was trying to leave the country for Dubai. Police say he was on his way to get training and become a fighter for the Islamic State. (Alleged IS Recruit, Engineer Trained in US, Arrested in Hyderabad)

Mr Mohiuddin, 70, says his son has not done anything criminal, even if he may have had some thinking on the subject.

“They have flashed his photo and made him out to be a terror suspect. They have ruined his life and our reputation,” the distraught father says.

32-year-old Salman, an engineer from Hyderabad, had gone to the US in 2010 to get a MS degree from Houston. He did not get a visa extension in October 2014 and returned to India.Police say ever since he returned, he was active on social networking sites and even opened a Facebook page ‘Daula News Room’ on which he posted lots of Islamic State literature and spoke to many young people, in an attempt to indoctrinate them.

Salman’s father, who retired from the state housing board 11 years ago, says his son was going to find a job on a visitor visa since he was not able to get a job visa. The police however say he was to meet a friend Nicky Joseph alias Ayesha and they were going together to Syria and Turkey.

“Salman was in touch with people in ISIS and they had invited him to undergo training,” Shamshabad Assistant Commissioner of Police R Sudarshan said. Salman was reportedly using a tablet and an iPhone to communicate, and not a desktop.

Mr Mohiuddin says Salman is happily married with two young children – eight- year-old son Haroon and a five-year-old daughter Fatima. He wanted to get a job to support his wife and children, the father says.

Salman’s brothers and a sister, also an engineer, are working in Houston.

Salman has been sent to two weeks in judicial custody. The police has sought his custody so they can question him further.