National Investigation Agency probe intoISIS module goes abroad

Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe into the ISIS module involving terror suspects from Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu   has turned into a multi-country probe with the agency issuing Mutual Assistance Legal Treaty (MALT) requests and letters rogatory (letter of request from a court to a foreign court) to the United States, United Arab Emirates and Sudan.

NIA investigations revealed that accused Mohamed Naser, son of Packeer Mohammed of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, who was chargesheeted first was arrested in Sudan and deported to India. That led to the   busting of the terror module involving Hyderabadi suspects.

The NIA stated that during the investigation two requests under MALT were forwarded to the USA and UAE, a letter rogatory to Sudan for  collection of documentary as well as digital evidence against  the accused.

“Mohammed Naser had created multiple email, Twitter and Telegram IDs  at different times for the purpose of clandestine communications   with persons who could help him get into Syria and join the ISIS,” the NIA chargesheet said.

 “In this regard a request under MALT has been sent to the US to   obtain relevant contents from email and chat IDs used by terror   suspects,” the chargesheet said.

NIA investigations found that Naser was in touch with Karen Hamidian of the Philippines and Fathima Arenitna and Mad Mullah alias Abu Hatim, outside the country.

The NIA found that before his arrest Naser was interacting with   people identified as Yusha Kashmiri, Siraj Kashmiri alias   Sirajuddin, Dawlah Indaziyah of Nigeria, Abu Hamza al Hind of   Australia, Abu Abdulla Al Britani and Aadhil apart from Hamidan and  Fatima.

During the course of the investigation, the Computer Emergency Response   Team of New Delhi retrieved most of the digital data from the electronic devices seized from Naser.

The data retrieved contained  phone numbers, e-mails, pictures and videos connected to jihadi activities, call logs and pdf files with jihadi literature.