The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted pre dawn raids at five locations Maharashtra's Mumbai and Pune on Monday in a case linked to the banned Islamic State and arrests four terror suspects. The four suspects are members of 'Ghazwa-e-Hind' module of IS India chapter.
A suspect identified as Tabish Nasser Siddiqui held from Nagpada Mumbai was under surveillance had allegedly pledged allegiance to the Amir of the Islamic State (IS) and had also written articles for the IS propaganda magazine ‘Voice of Hind’
Another suspect identified as Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu Nusaiba arrested from Kondhwa, Pune was previously linked with dismantled Shimoga, Karnataka IS module.
The other two IS operatives Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala were arrested from Padgha near Bhiwandi in Thane district.
Conspiracy to further the terrorist activities of ISIS
NIA preliminary investigations established that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to further the terrorist activities of ISIS, known by different names, such as Islamic State (IS)/Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daish/ Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)/ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K).
“The arrested accused had recruited youths and trained them in the fabrication of IEDs and weapons. The accused had also shared relevant material, including ‘Do it Yourself kits’ (DIY), amongst themselves for fabrication of IEDs and manufacture of small weapons, Pistols,” said NIA statement.
Several incriminating materials seized
The joint operations by NIA and Mumbai police led to seizure of several incriminating materials, including digital devices from the residences of the four supersets in Mumbai, Bhiwani and Pune.
The NIA had earlier conducted multiple raids on Sunday (July 3) in Bihar’s Darbhanga and Patna, Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, Surat in Gujarat in connection with the radicalised group “Ghazwa-e-Hind” run by Pakistan-based suspects with support of banned PFI in India. The radicalisation module had Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Yemeni nationals members with the aim of establishing sleeper cells in the country for carrying out terrorist activities.
