MALAPPURAM: Further clamping down on the activities of the Popular Front of India (PFI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached a Malappuram-based educational institute where arms physical training was imparted to the cadre of the banned Islamic extremist outfit.
According to NIA officials, Green Valley Academy is the sixth training centre to be attached by the anti-terror agency in Kerala. It has also become the eighteenth property linked to the PFI to be attached by the NIA in their ongoing efforts to crack down on its attempts to resurrect its network across the country.
According to NIA sources, properties worth Rs 80 crores have been attached in the state as part of the agency’s drive against terror activities under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
A reliable source from the NIA disclosed to The New Indian that the academy had been used to provide arms training, physical training, and explosives training to PFI’s ‘Service Wing’ members. Additionally, the center was found to be propagating radical ideologies among its cadres, with PFI’s offices and frontal organizations operating under the facade of educational institutions within the premises.
Among the other PFI training centers that were seized by the NIA are Malabar House, Periyar Valley, Valluvanad House, Karunya Charitable Trust, and the Trivandrum Education and Service Trust (TEST).
Green Valley Academy offered a five-year integrated course combining Islamic studies with secular subjects.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had taken action against the PFI and its associates on September 28, 2022, banning them for their links to terrorist groups and subversive activities. This ban was recommended by the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Karnataka, according to an affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court.