Suspected ISIS men contacted Maoist to procure weapons

NEW DELHI: The arrested 16 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suspected terrorists had contacted Maoists to learn “bomb making” and to their “modus operandi to commit terror acts” across the country, the  National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday stated in a charge sheet filed before a special court in Delhi. The charge sheet filed against 16 accused also stated that they were planning to procure weapons from Naxals to carry out terror strikes.

The agency in the charge sheet filed before District Judge Amar Nath also stated that they accused received Rs 2.5 lakhs through hawal channels to procure explosives and weapons.

The charge sheet has been filed against 16 arrested accused identified as Nafees Khan, Mudabbir Mushtaq,  Abu Anas, Najmul Huda, Mohd Afzal,  Mohd Shareef, Suhail Ahmed, Asif Ali, Mohd Obedullah Khan, Nafees Khan, Mohd Aleem, Mohd Hussain Khan, Imran Khan, Syed Mujahid, Mohd Azhar Khan and Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi.

The charge sheet has been also filed against the main accused Shafi Armar, who is in Syria and are recruiting Indian Muslims to join jihad and banned terror organization ISIS through social networking sites.

The agency also stated that six of the accused had been radicalised by speeches given by Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, also known as local Zakir Naik. The arrested accused men used to watch Qasmi’s speeches along with accessing jihadi literature online and participating in encrypted chats. Qasmi’s name also surfaced in radicalising three young men arrested by the Delhi Police for their links to ISIS. The case was also later transferred to NIA and the agency filed a charge sheet in the case on Monday.

In total the agency had arrested 18 accused, out of which two of them have been turned into approver in the case, as per the charge sheet. “During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the accused persons had formed and organizations by the name Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind, a group seeking to establish Caliphate in India with allegiance with ISIS,  to recruit Muslim youths to work for the ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at behest of one Yusuf-Al-Hindi  Shafi Armar,” the agency stated.

Te agency further stated that all the accused persons conducted several meetings and conspired at Devaryana Dargah at Tumkur in August 2015, Deoband in September 2015, Tumkur Hills in October 2015, Bengaluru on October 25, 2015, Lucknow on November 1, 2015, Hyderabad on December  14, 2015, Pune on December 18, 2015, and again in Hyderabad on January, 15  2016.   

The agency also claimed that the accused, who are currently in judicial custody, were using different internet channels/ services, telephone and one-on-one meetings to further outfit's ideology.

They were arrested from different parts of the country for allegedly recruiting and financing people to join the terror organisation.

They were arrested under several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC). A case was registered by NIA on December 9, 2015 against unknown and unidentified persons involved in the activities of Islamic State (IS) in India and Asian powers in peace with India.