New Delhi: In a major crackdown against ISIS, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested 15 operatives of the global terror organisation in multiple raids in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
A spokesperson of the federal anti-terror agency said those arrested included the leader of an ISIS module who was administering oath of allegiance to new recruits. The agency sleuths raided these locations in close coordination with the police forces of the two states.
Several teams of the agency raided as many as 44 places in Padgha-Borivali, Thane, Mira Road and Pune in Maharashtra, and Bengaluru in Karnataka early Saturday morning, and apprehended the 15 accused for allegedly promoting terror and terror-related acts and activities of the proscribed organisation, the NIA spokesperson said in a statement.
Huge amounts of unaccounted cash, firearms, sharp-edged weapons, incriminating documents, smartphones and other digital devices were seized during the raids, conducted as part of the NIA's ongoing efforts to disrupt and demolish the attempts of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Islamic State, to carry out violent acts of terror and take innocent lives, the spokesperson said.
The official said the accused, operating on the directions of their foreign handlers, had been actively involved in various terrorist activities, including the fabrication of improvised explosive devices, for furthering the violent and destructive agenda of ISIS. "The investigations have revealed that the accused, all members of the ISIS Maharashtra module, were operating from Padgha-Borivali, where they had hatched the conspiracy to spread terror and carry out acts of violence across India.
"Pursuing the path of violent jihad (holy war), Khilafat, ISIS etc., the accused had aimed to disturb the peace and communal harmony of the country and to wage a war against the Government of India," the spokesperson said. The official said initial investigations have revealed that the arrested accused had self-declared the village of Padgha in rural Thane as a "liberated zone" and as "Al Sham".
They were motivating impressionable Muslim youths to relocate from their place of residence for strengthening the Padgha base, the spokesperson said. The official said Saqib Nachan, the main accused and the leader of the ISIS module, was also administering 'bayath' (oath of allegiance to the Khalifa of ISIS ) to the persons joining the proscribed organisation.
The ISIS has been spreading its terror network in India by putting in place localised ISIS modules and cells in various states of the country, the spokesperson said. The agency had registered a case against the ISIS Maharashtra module earlier this year and has since then undertaken strong and concerted actions to destroy various ISIS modules and networks operating across the country, the spokesperson said.
The NIA had earlier in August arrested one Aakif Ateeque Nachan for his suspected involvement in the fabrication and testing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) besides arranging a hideout for two other terror operatives.
The module, according to the agency, was actively involved in the promotion of the terror-related activities of designated Foreign Terrorist Organisations, in collaboration with several others.
Read More
