Bhubaneswar, Feb. 24: The five SIMI members arrested from Rourkela on February 17 are suspected to have Taliban links, police said today. A team of Madhya Pradesh police, which is in Odisha at present to interrogate them, has found substantial evidence of their monetary transactions with the Talibans based in Afghanistan.

Police had arrested the four SIMI operatives - Mohammad Salik (33), Zakir Hussain (32), Amjad Khan (27) and Sheikh Mehboob (27) - along with Mehboob's mother Najma Biwi (60) from a rented house in Rourkela's Nallah Road area.

Sources said that the Madhya Pradesh police team had also found that Abu Faisal alias 'doctor', who is the leader of the arrested SIMI activists, had transferred money from his bank account to a terrorist organisation in Afghanistan. Abu Faisal is now lodged in a Madhya Pradesh jail.

"The trio of Zakir, Amjad and Mehboob, along with Faisal, had escaped from Khandwa jail in Madhya Pradesh in October 2013. Faizal used to head the group, which Salik joined later. The Madhya Pradesh police have found evidence of huge funds being transferred to an Afghanistan-based terrorist outfit from the account of Faisal who was arrested shortly after escaping from Khandwa jail," said a police officer.

The special task force of the state crime branch had earlier hinted at the jihadi activities of the arrested persons after scanning their emails.

"We found some emails inciting the SIMI operatives to trigger communal violence in the name of religion. We are trying to ascertain the location from where these mails were sent," said a police officer.

A team of Research and Analysis Wing is likely to reach Odisha shortly to interrogate the SIMI members and ascertain their foreign links.