Hyderabad: National Investigating Agency picks up 4 youths in raid

Hyderabad: Sleuths of the National Investigating Agency carried out fresh raids in Hyderabad on Saturday morning and picked up 4 youths for questioning in connection with the Hyderabad-based alleged Islamic State (IS) terror suspects.

Two months ago, the NIA filed the supplementary charge-sheet following the arrest of alleged ISIS sympathisers Mohammed Abdullah Basith and Mohd Abdul Qadeer. The duo was arrested on August 12, 2018 and are presently serving sentence in Tihar jail.

Early morning raids were conducted in Bandlaguda, Falaknuma, and King’s Colony in Mailardevpally. The NIA team had carried out a recce two days prior to launching the raids.

Accompanied by the Cyberabad police, the NIA picked up four youths for interrogation. However, they were released in the evening.

The NIA authorities said in an official statement, “Searches were carried out at 3 locations in Hyderabad and 1 location in Wardha in an ISIS-related case.
Searches were part of the investigation in RC-4/2016/NIA/DLI (ISIS case - Abu Dhabi Module) based on reliable information regarding their activities, in this case. During the searches, a number of digital devices, including 13 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, 1 iPad, 2 laptops, 1 external hard disk drive, 6 pen drives, 6 SD cards, and 3 walkie talkie sets (Kenwood), and some documents, were seized from the houses of the suspects. Further investigation is underway.”

A source claimed that while investigating the case, the NIA sleuths stumbled upon names of new suspects residing in Hyderabad, who are allegedly in touch with the ISIS sympathisers Abdul Basit and Qadeer in connection with the Abu Dhabi module.

Abdul and Qadeer, could have in all likelihood, spilled the beans to the NIA team during the investigation, said the source. Based on the specific inputs, the NIA carried out raids in Hyderabad.