Eight ISIS operatives arrested, plans to trigger IED blasts foiled: NIA

According to a NIA spokesperson, the eight ISIS terror operatives were arrested during raids at 19 locations across four states of Karnataka; Maharashtra; Jharkhand and Delhi and were planning to carry out terror acts including IED blasts in the country.

New Delhi:The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday claimed to have averted a major tragedy by arresting eight terror operatives of the ISIS organisation who were planning to carry out IED blasts in the country. In a statement issued in this regard, a NIA spokesperson said that the accused ISIS operatives part of the ISIS's Ballari module were arrested during raids at 19 locations across four states-Ballari and Bengaluru in Karnataka; Amaravati, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra; Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand; and Delhi.

The arrested ISIS operatives include ISIS leader Minaz, the NIA said. “The eight ISIS agents arrested during the raids were involved in actively promoting terror and terror related acts and activities of ISIS, the proscribed organisation,” it added. Minaj alias Md. Sulaiman and Syed Sameer were arrested from Ballari, Anas Iqbal Shaikh from Mumbai, Mohammad Muniruddin, Syid Samiullah alias Sami, Md Muzammil from Bengaluru, Shayan Rahman alias Hussain from Delhi and Md. Shahbaz alias Zulfikar alias Guddu from Jamshedpur.

As per the NIA, the operatives were operating under the leadership of Minaz alias Md Sulaiman. 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, it 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,” added the NIA. It said that investigations have further 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”.

“They were specifically aiming at College students for the purposes of recruitment, and were also circulating documents relating to recruitment of Mujahideen for the purpose of Jihad,” the NIA said. “The raids conducted today were part of NIA’s efforts to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) anti-terror terror conspiracy against India.

The searches were carried out through close coordination and the operational assistance of Karnataka Police, Maharashtra Police, Jharkhand Police and the Delhi Police,” it said. NIA had registered a case against the ISIS inspired Ballari module on 14th December, 2023. It has, since then, been working closely with the State Police and central agencies to track and apprehend members of this module.

The probe agency has been conducting large-scale crackdowns and has busted various ISIS modules in recent months. Several terror operatives have been arrested in these raids by the NIA, the spokesperson said.