After four years in hiding, PFI man nabbed by NIA at Kochi Airport

The National Investigation Agency arrested Moitheenkutty, a Malappuram resident, at Nedumbassery airport for alleged arms training linked to the banned Popular Front of India, ending his four-year absconding and advancing the ongoing probe

Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a Malappuram native who had been absconding for nearly four years in connection with an alleged arms training case linked to the banned Popular Front of India (PFI).

Moitheenkutty, a resident of Valanchery in Malappuram district, was taken into custody at Nedumbassery airport near Kochi. Investigators said he had been on the run since 2022 and was among the key accused in a case involving alleged arms training camps organised for PFI activists.

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According to NIA sources, a dedicated team had been tracking his movements based on intelligence inputs gathered from multiple states. A reward of Rs 7 lakh had earlier been announced for credible information leading to his arrest, underscoring the agency’s assessment of his role in the case.

Moitheenkutty was intercepted at the airport while allegedly attempting to travel abroad. The arrest marks a significant breakthrough in the probe, which has been underway as part of a broader crackdown on extremist activities following the Centre’s ban on the PFI in 2022.

After being taken into custody, the accused was produced before the jurisdictional court and remanded. The NIA is expected to seek his custodial interrogation to gather further details about the alleged training network, the extent of coordination among accused persons, and possible financial or logistical support structures.

The agency has been pursuing multiple cases linked to alleged radicalisation, recruitment and arms training across several states. The investigation in the present case is continuing, and more disclosures are likely as questioning progresses.

Security agencies maintain that sustained surveillance and inter-state coordination were crucial in tracing the absconding accused. In late January, the NIA carried out coordinated early-morning raids across multiple districts in Kerala as part of an ongoing probe into suspected efforts to revive the banned PFI and alleged financial support for extremist activities.

The searches began in the pre-dawn hours and targeted the residences and offices of former office-bearers of the PFI and its political wing, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The action followed intelligence inputs suggesting that funds were being mobilised clandestinely to sustain banned organisational activities and to facilitate extremist operations.