Nabbed Al Qaeda men amassed firecrackers to make IEDs: NIA

Nine Al Qaeda militants arrested from West Bengal and Kerala were planning attacks with IEDs, made from potassium procured from firecrackers. They planned to go to Kashmir for weapons delivery.

New Delhi: The NIA on Saturday busted an inter-state terror module sponsored by Al Qaeda from Pakistan. There were nine men arrested from West Bengal and Kerala who were planning attacks with IEDs, made from potassium procured from firecrackers. They planned to go to Kashmir for weapons delivery.

The National Investigation Agency arrested six of these terrorists from West Bengal's Murshidabad and three from Kerala's Ernakulum district in early morning raids. The nine were planning attacks on several vital installations in Delhi-NCR and several parts of the country to spread terror in the mind of the people.

"During the raids, the agency got huge cache of firecrackers. They bought the firecrackers to hide procurement of huge amount of potassium required to make the IEDs," a senior NIA official related to the probe told Media.

The arrested terrorists have been identified as Murshid Hassan, Yakoob Bishwas and Morshraf Hussien, all three residents of Ernakulam. While Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman, all residents of Murshidabad. Those arrested from Kerala were originally from West Bengal.

Read:NIA arrests 9 Al Qaeda operatives plotting attacks in Delhi-NCR

The official said that the potassium present in the firecrackers was taken out and then was used to make the IEDS. The official also said that they have recovered the crude IEDs along with the switches, batteries etc from terrorist Sufiyan's residential premises in Murshidabad.

The official said that Hassan was the main leader of the terror module. Earlier, an NIA spokesperson said that the group was planning to undertake terrorist attacks at vital installations in India with an aim to kill innocent people and strike terror in their minds.

The NIA has registered a case on September 11 after it received some vital intel about the Al Qaeda group.

During the raids, large quantity of incriminating materials including digital devices, documents, jihadi literature, sharp weapons, country-made firearms, a locally fabricated body armour, articles and literature used for making home-made explosive devices have been seized from their possession.

"As per preliminary investigation, these individuals were radicalised by the Pakistan-based Al Qaeda terrorists on social media and were motivated to undertake attacks at multiple places including the National Capital Region," the NIA spokesperson said.

The official said that the module was actively indulging in fundraising and a few members of gang were planning to travel to New Delhi to procure arms and ammunition. However, these pre-empted arrests could have stopped the attacks.

The nabbed terrorists will be produced before courts in Murshidabad and Ernakulam and the agency will seek their custody for interrogation.

IANS