New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS): A suspected terrorist, who was planning to go to Syria via Iraq to join the ISIS, was held from Bengaluru in a joint operation conducted by the Internal Security Division (ISD) of Bengaluru and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The arrested person has been identified as Arif. An NIA source claimed that Arif was in touch with foreign-based terrorists.

The source said that Arif was allegedly radicalising gullibe youth. The agencies have also found several suspected transactions involving his bank account.

The NIA has recovered electronic gadgets from his possession along with data from his laptop, which are said to be highly objectionable and anti-India.

Arif was repoetedly working with a private tech firm as a software engineer.

The source said that Arif was planning to flee from Karnataka in March and was about to sell all his home furniture and electronic gadgets online. The source claimed that Arif had also booked tickets for Iraq and from there he had planned to go to Syria.

"He confessed that he received money from foreign-based handlers of ISIS and Al-Qaeda to radicalise the youth. He wanted to join ISIS. He was contacting his handlers through Telegram app. We had been keeping an eye on him for the past two years. On Saturday morning, we conducted raids and arrested him," the source said.