NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested an alleged ISIS operative from Delhi. Seven other persons allegedly associated with the terror outfit were also nabbed from three states—Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jharkhand—in the raids conducted by the agency.
The accused were a part of Ballari module and its leader Minaz has been held. Officials said the agency has foiled plans by the accused to carry out terror acts, especially IED blasts.The early morning raids were conducted at locations spread across Ballari and Bengaluru in Karnataka, Amaravati, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand,and Delhi. The searches were carried out through close coordination and the operational assistance of Karnataka Police, Maharashtra Police, Jharkhand Police and the Delhi Police.
The accused ISIS agents, identified as Minaz alias Md. Sulaiman and Syed Sameer, were arrested from Ballari, Anas Iqbal Shaikh from Mumbai, Mohammad Muniruddin, Syid Samiullah alias Sami and Md Muzammil from Bengaluru, Shayan Rahman alias Hussain from Delhi and Md. Shahbaz alias Zulfikar alias Guddu from Jamshedpur.
According to the officials, the arrested accused were involved in actively promoting terror and terror related acts and activities of ISIS, the proscribed organisation.“The raids also led to the seizure of explosive raw materials, such as Sulphur, Potassium Nitrate, Charcoal, Gunpowder, Sugar and Ethanol, sharp edged weapons, unaccounted cash and incriminating documents, along with smartphones and other digital devices,” the probe agency said.
According to initial investigations, the accused had planned to use the explosive raw materials for fabrication of IEDs, which were to be used for carrying out terror acts.Investigations also revealed that the accused, in pursuance of the path of violent Jihad, Khilafat, ISIS etc., were continuously in touch with one another via encrypted apps. The NIA had registered a case against the ISIS-inspired Ballari module on December 14.