NIA Raids ISIS Member’s City Hideout in Malakpet

Hyderabad: Officials of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday carried out searches at a house where alleged ISIS module member Rizwan Abdul, alias Haji Ali, had stayed at Malakpet, prior to his arrest.

Rizwan, 38, carrying a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh, was arrested by a special cell of Delhi police from his house in Daryaganj on August 9, sources said. He was suspected to be working for the Islamic State (IS) in the Pune module.

In Hyderabad, before his arrest, Abdul had stayed at an apartment in Sankeshwar Bazaar, Kalyannagar, for six months, NIA sources said. After his arrest, NIA teams also conducted searches in other places in Saidabad suspecting that local ISIS activists were supporting him here.

According to the sources, the NIA found that Abdul was directly associated with international terrorists from the IS in Iraq Syria and other Islamic countries.

At the time of his arrest in Delhi, police seized a 30-bore pistol, three live cartridges and two mobile phones.

In March, the NIA attached four properties in Pune that were used as proceeds in connection with an IS module case. The attached immovable properties, located in Kondhwa, Pune, were linked to 11 accused, including Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus, Saki, Syed Mohammed Shanawaz Alam alias Ansari.

The suspects used these properties for IED fabrication, training and planning terrorist activities. They planned to carry out attacks in Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP, Bihar and other states, sources said.