Government officials said they were totally off guard when Syrian Deputy Prime minister Walid Al Moaulem, who was on a three-day visit to India last week, disclosed that the four Indian youths were taken into custody for allegedly planning to join ISIS.
"We have no idea who the youths are, from where they originally hail from. We suspect they might have gone from some Gulf countries. We are still verifying their antecedents," an official said.
Moaulem had said: "Four Indians were taken into Syrian custody in Damascus. The four young Indians were planning to join the ISIS and had entered Syria from Jordan".
According to Indian intelligence agencies, a total of 23 Indians have so far joined the ISIS of which six were reportedly killed in different incidents.
Among the 23 include, two absconding members of the banned Indian Mujahideen who had gone from their hideouts in Pakistan.
As many as 30 other Indians, who were radicalised by ISIS elements, were prevented from travelling to the conflict zone in the Middle-East.
Among those who are currently fighting for ISIS include two youths from Kalyan in the outskirts of Mumbai, an Australia-based Kashmiri, one youth from Telangana, one from Karnataka, one Oman-based Indian and another Singapore-based Indian.
On September 15, 2015, the UAE deported four Indians suspected to have links with ISIS.
In January 2015, Salman Mohiuddin of Hyderabad was arrested when he was preparing to board a flight to Dubai on way to Syria via Turkey.
In December last year, Mohd Sirazudin, an executive of the Indian Oil Corporation was arrested in Jaipur for allegedly spreading ISIS activities online and trying to recruit Indian youths in the Middle-East terrorist group.
