In a pan India crackdown against ISIS modules operating in the country, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a 19-year-old from Jharkhand, a 22-year-old from Bihar owing allegiance to the banned Popular Front of India, and another from Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu in an intelligence-led joint operation with Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Kerala Police.
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), UP, student Faizan Ansari, was taken into custody after searches at his house in Lohardaga district of Jharkhand and rented room in Aligarh, U.P. on July 16 and 17. They seized several electronic devices and incriminating materials/documents.
Faizan had hatched a criminal conspiracy, along with his associates and other unknown individuals, through social media platform to support ISIS activities in India and disseminate the outfit’s propaganda over various social media platforms. The conspiracy was aimed at carrying out violent terror attacks in India on behalf of the ISIS.
Investigations have revealed that Faizan and his associates had pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State. He was also actively in the process of radicalizing neo-converts and attracting them to the terrorist fold for enriching the cadre base of the ISIS in India. Faizan Ansari was in contact with foreign based ISIS handlers, who were guiding him on recruitments to the banned outfit.
PFI arms trainer arrested in Bihar
Meanwhile, in Bihar the NIA on Wednesday arrested one more prime accused, Yaqub Khan - an expert arms trainer, in the case relating to the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), taking the total number of arrests in the case to 15. The NIA officials claimed that accused Yaqub Khan alias Sultan alias Usman, 22, a resident of District East Champaran, Bihar, had conducted many training sessions to further the outfit’s aggressive and violent agenda and activities. He had arranged arms and ammunition to attack a youth from a particular community in order to seek revenge and to whip up communal hatred and had also uploaded controversial videos on social media to promote enmity among the communities, agency officials said on Thursday. The agency had earlier arrested 14 accused and seized several incriminating articles/documents related in the case. The case was initially registered on July 12, 2022 at Police Station Phulwarisharif, District Patna, Bihar, and was re-registered by NIA on July 22, 2022.An official said the police had received information about a plan to disturb the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by some suspected persons who had assembled in Phulwari Sharif area on July 11, 2022 and that police had raided Ahmed Place, Naya tola near canal, Phulwari Sharif, Patna and arrested two persons Athar Parvej and Mohammad Jalauddin. Four accused were later chargesheeted in the case on January 7, 2023. "Yaqub Khan was on the run since the houses of PFI syndicate were raided/searched in early February this year. After the Central Government banned the PFI, he was in contact with Reyaz Moarif, and his associates Mohammad Belal alias Irshad, and Afroz, suspects named in the FIR. He was also in contact with his Dubai (UAE) based associate Mohammad Sajjad Alam through WhatsApp. He hid in Bettiah district of Bihar, with his aunt and thereafter, at Pokhra, Nepal with another accused Mohammad Irshad Alam who has been since arrested in this case on March 18. Later Yaqub Khan went to Mumbai and stayed there with another aunt at Dharavi and with a friend. Returning from Mumbai in April 2023, he remained with his friends/associates/relatives in East Champaran, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts of Bihar," said an NIA official.The NIA has seized SIM cards and a mobile phone of Yaqub and are examining them for further leads in the case.
Kerala ISIS module busted
In another raid, the NIA in an intelligence-led joint operation with Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Kerala Police searched four locations following the arrest of one accused to bust a Kerala ISIS module and prevent communal terror attacks. The raids were conducted at three locations in Thrissur and one in Palakkad districts of Kerala to bust the IS module, which had been conducting reconnaissance missions and conspiring to commit terrorist attacks. On Tuesday, NIA successfully tracked and arrested an accused Ashif Mathilakath Kodayil Ashraf from his hideout near Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu. On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, searches were conducted in the houses of Ashif, as well as three others, identified as Seyid Nabeel Ahammed, Shiyas TS of Thrissur and Rayees of Palakkad. Digital devices and incriminating documents were seized during these raids. The module had been engaged in raising funds for promoting IS activities and carrying out terror attacks by committing dacoities and other criminal activities. They were conspiring to commit terrorist activities and had already conducted a recce of a few various prominent places, including places of worship and leaders of certain communities in the State. It aimed to spread terror and trigger a communal divide in Kerala.
