Bengaluru: In a major crackdown on the Islamic State and its followers and sympathisers, the security agencies arrested or detained 14 young men across major cities in the country for allegedly having allegiance to ISIS terrorists and forming modules to carry out terror strikes at vital locations and crowded places.
In Karnataka, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) picked up six youths, including four from Bengaluru, for alleged links with the global terror organisation. Two of them were later arrested, the agency said.
The NIA, with the help of local police and Intelligence Bureau (IB), picked up Asif Ali, Suhail, Mohammed Afzal and Abdul Ahad, Najmul Huda from Permude village in Bajpe in Mangaluru and Syed Mujahid Hussain from Tumkaru between Thursday midnight and Friday early morning. Of the six, Afzal and Huda have been formally arrested.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and NIA sleuths had converged in Bengaluru, Tumakuru and Mangaluru on Thursday for the operation after informing select police officers for logistic help and to prevent a law and order situation.
“The suspects were planning terror attacks to prove their commitment to IS ideology, which is allegedly a precondition for Indian youths to join the dreaded terrorist organisation. Of the six, one was about to leave for Syria to join IS, while the other was awaiting a consignment of improvised explosive devices to carry out terror attacks in Bengaluru and other places,” Intelligence sources told this newspaper.
The operation was part of a major crackdown on IS across the country as eight others were arrested or detained in other cities for forming modules to carry out terror strikes. Three were from Mumbai, four from Hyderabad and one from Lucknow — all key cities where ISIS’ social media propaganda has been successful because of easy Internet access. Some youths were said to be software engineers. They were part of a group named “Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind” (Army of Caliph of India), whose ideology is like that of IS.
All the suspects were somehow connected with one “Yusuf”, believed to be Safi Armar, a former Indian Mujahideen member. Those arrested are Muttabir Mustaq Sheikh from Thane district near Mumbai, Mohammad Nafees Khan of Hyderabad and Mohammad Shareef Moinuddin Khan of Hyderabad. Mustaq Sheikh is learnt to be the ringleader and an unaccounted Rs 6 lakh was recovered from him, which is suspected to have been transferred into his accounts through the hawala route.
Huda handled finance?
Muttabir Mustaq Sheikh from Thane district near Mumbai had designated himself as “Ameer” of the group and Najmul Huda as “Ameer-e-Wyulat” (finance). They were in touch over the Internet with some persons believed to be from ISIS based in Syria.
Arrestedsuspects
- Najmal Huda alias Majnu, 25, Mangaluru
- Mohammed Afzal alias Abu Mariyam alias Yasir, 35, Bengaluru
- Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh alias Abu Musab, 33, Mumbai
- Mohammed Nafees Khan alias Fatima Khan alias Abu Zarrar alias Akram, 24, Hyderabad
- Mohammed Shareef Moinuddin Khan, 54, Hyderabad.
Detained suspects from state
- Mohammed Suhail alias Suhail Ahmed, 30, Bengaluru,
- Asif Ali, Bengaluru,
- Abdul Ahad, Bengaluru
- Syed Mujahid, 34, Tumakuru
