Shafi Armar main recruiter for ISIS in India: NIA
Several conspiracy meetings of the accused were held in various places.
Bengaluru: Shafi Armar - the alleged fugitive terrorist from Bhatkal has reportedly emerged as the main recruiter of Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) - the banned global terrorist organisation in India even as there are unconfirmed reports surrounding his death in a US air strike in Syria in April this year.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday in its supplementary chargesheet in RC-14/2015/NIA/DLI, which it submitted in the Patiala Court has accused Yusuf al Hindi alias Shafi Armar alias Anjan Bhai (A-19) along with 15 other alleged ISIS suspects, including six from Karnataka, who were arrested by the Central agency in a countrywide crackdown early this year for hatching a sinister conspiracy to "recruit Muslim youths to work for ISIS" and execute terror attacks in the country by setting up 'Junood-ul-Khilafat-Hind' (a group seeking to establish Caliphate in India) at the "behest of Yusuf al Hindi alias Shafi Armar alias Anjan Bhai, who is based in Syria and is purportedly the media chief of ISIS," said a NIA spokesperson.
The accused - Mohammed Naser (A1), Mohammed Nafees Khan (A2), Mudabir Mushtaq Sheikh (A3), Abu Anas (A4), Najmul Huda (A5), Mohammed Afzal (A7), Mohammed Sharief Moinuddin Khan (A8), Suhail Ahmed (A9), Asif Ali (A10), Mohammed Obeidullah Khan (A11), Mohammed Aleem (A12), Mohammed Hussain Khan (A13), Syed Mujahid (A14), Imran Khan (A 15), Mohammed Azhar Khan (A16) Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi Qureshi (A17) during their interrogation have reportedly told NIA that they were reportedly interacting with Shafi Armar (A19) on various online social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Trillion, Skype, Surespot, Twitter, Nimbuzz and Telegram, who had recruited them for carrying out terror attacks in India.
"Several conspiracy meetings of the accused were held in various places. Two meetings were held in Tumakuru; at Devrayana Dargah, State forest in August 2015 and the other in October at Tumakuru hills. Two such meetings were held in Bengaluru on October 24 and 25 and more meetings were held in Deoband and Lucknow in Utttar Pradesh, Hyderabad and Pune," stated the NIA.
The agency had arrested 18 accused under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17 (raising funds for terrorist activities), 18 (punishment for conspiracy), 18B (punishment for recruiting persons for terrorist activities), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organization), 39 (supporting a terrorist organisation) and 40 (raising funds for a terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and sections of the Explosives Act, 1908.
The NIA had reportedly seized explosive material and cash of Rs 2,50,000 from the possession of the accused, who were arrested from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The case was initially registered on December 9, last year.