Chennai: The National Investigation Agency on Saturday carried out raids at multiple locations in Chennai and Nagapattinam and busted a Tamil Nadu-based terror module whose members had collected funds and made preparations to carry out terrorist attacks with the intention of establishing Islamic rule in India.
The raids were conducted in a case pertaining to Ansarulla terrorist gang, the NIA said.
The premier probe agency on Saturday carried out searches at the house and office of accused Syed Mohammed Bukhari in Chennai city and houses of Hassan Ali Yunusmaricar and Mohammed Yusuffudeen Harish Mohamed in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, the agency said in a statement. Three persons are being questioned in connection with the raids, sources said.
“It has also been learnt that the accused persons and their associates had collected funds and made preparations to carry out terrorist attacks in India, with the intention of establishing Islamic rule in India,” a NIA release said.
A case had been registered against the three persons on July 9 under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and UA (P) Act after NIA received credible information that the accused persons were conspiring and conducted consequent preparations to wage war against the government.
Based on some strong evidence as the three had contact with some other banned Islamic organisations, the NIA has executed the searching operation, sources said.
Raids started at 6 am at the city office of Wahdath-e-Islami Hind on Lingi Chetty street in Mannady. The TN state head of the organisation, Sayyed Mohammed Buhari was taken into custody. His office, which is in an apartment complex on Vepery-Poonamallee road, was raided as well,” sources added.
An NIA official takes Hasan Ali of Sikkal in Nagapattinam district to Superintendent of Police office for interrogation on Saturday. (Photo: DC)
At Nagapattinam, the team raided places in Sikkal and Manjakollai and took two persons for inquiry. They were identified as Hassan Ali Yunusmaricar and Mohammed Yusuffudeen Harish Mohamed. The NIA team is also probing if they were plotting to murder Hindu leaders.
NIA officers claimed that the group had contact with some other banned Islamic organisations. It is said this group communicated via social media. They are also inquiring if they were in touch with the perpetrators of Colombo’s Easter Day blast which killed 259 people and left 1,000 injured.
Sources said during searches, 9 mobiles, 15 SIM cards, 7 memory cards, 3 laptops, 5 hard discs, 6 pen drives, 2 tablets and 3 CDs/ DVDs besides documents including magazines, banners, notices, posters and books have been seized by NIA in connection with the attack.
Earlier in June, the NIA had conducted raids in seven locations in Coimbatore in connection with the ISIS module case. Apart from the SDPI and PFI pamphlets, it seized four mobiles, 29 SIM cards, ten pen drives, three laptops, six memory cards, four hard disc drives and 13 CDs/ DVDs, 300 air-gun pellets, incriminating documents. And in May, NIA sleuths conducted raids at a house in Kattumannarkoil, Chidambaram.
Investigations revealed that the accused persons and their associates had planned to wage war against India and could be in collaborative contact with some other terror groups and individuals elsewhere, including abroad.
R. Valayapathy adds from Tiruchy Officials of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) conducted surprise raids at houses of two persons, believed to be having connections with the banned Wahat Islamic organisation, in and around Nagapattinam on Saturday.
Official sources told DC that the NIA officials conducted raids at four places including Chennai and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu today, and as part of this exercise, two NIA teams searched the residence of Aris Mohammad at Manchakollai in Nagapattinam and another house of Hasan Ali at Sikkal near Nagapattinam.
They seized several documents including laptops, pen drives, computers and newspaper clippings in connection with the bomb blast incidents that took place in several parts of India, the NIA claimed.
The sources further said the raids lasted for more than six hours and the NIA officials took Hasan Ali to the Nagapattinam SP’s office for further interrogation.
Aris Mohammad was also later taken for interrogation and the NIA team is still quizzing them.
The sources said preliminary inquiries revealed with both of them were allegedly having connections with the extremist outfits and both were facing fake passport cases also.
