NIA nabs PFI weapons trainer from Karnataka

 Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a master weapons trainer of the Popular Front of India (PFI) who was living under an assumed identity in Karnataka, for his involvement in the Nizamabad terror conspiracy case.

The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy hatched by leaders and cadres of the now-banned outfit to recruit and radicalise youth and provide them with arms training to promote and carry out terrorist activities, with the ultimate objective of establishing Islamic rule in India.

The 33-year-old accused, Nossam Mohamed Yunus, was working in an inverter business run by his elder brother. However, he and his wife were found to be absconding during a search in September 2022.

NIA investigations revealed that he had shifted his entire family from Andhra Pradesh and was hiding in Cowl Bazar area of Bellary district in Karnataka, where he had assumed a new identity, as Basheer, as well as a new profession, a plumber.

Investigators said that Yunus was providing weapons training to the youth recruited by PFI in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He was also the physical education training state coordinator for the two states in the Nizamabad PFI case.

Yunus, who has been giving evasive replies during NIA interrogation, named one Shaikh Ilyas Ahmed as also being involved in the PFI weapons training programme. Ilyas is currently absconding.

Telangana Police had initially registered an FIR in the case in 2022. NIA later took over the probe and re-registered the case.