NIA ARRESTS 2 MEN FOR ‘LINKS WITH ISIS’
A lot of incriminating material was recovered and seized from the accused and has been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboraotry in Hyderabad for analysis and data extraction
HYDERABAD: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday announced arrest of two persons in Hyderabad for their alleged connections with the terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
The accused were identified as Mohammad Abdullah Basith (24), and Mohammad Abdul Qadeer (19). Both are residents of Hafiz Baba Nagar and Chandrayangutta areas of the old city of Hyderabad, officials said.
The arrests followed a series of raids conducted the NIA sleuths at seven places on August 6 and subsequent interrogation of several suspects in the last one week.
“A lot of incriminating material was recovered and seized from the accused and has been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboraotry in Hyderabad for analysis and data extraction,” an official release from the investigating agency said.
The NIA authorities said that during the interrogation, it was revealed that both Basith and Qadeer had pledged their allegiance to the ISIS to carry out terror activities in India.
“They were arrested to ascertain the details of the ongoing conspiracy and also their role played in furthering the ISIS ideology to carry out terrorist acts in India,” police said.
The arrests were made as part of the investigation into an earlier case registered in New Delhi on January 28, 2016 against Sheikh Azhar ul Islam, Mohammed Farhan Shaikh and Adnan Hassan for the allegations that they and their other unknown associates were members of ISIS.
They were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train Indian Muslim youths on behalf of ISIS to carry out terror activities, NIA said in a press release.
All the three accused were subsequently arrested by the NIA, which filed a charge-sheet against them on July 25, 2016.
A special court later sentenced Azhar ul Islam and Farhan Shaikh to seven years of imprisonment, while the trial against Adnan Hassan was still going on. Further investigation continued against other accused.
“During further investigation, a fresh input was received from reliable sources that one Abdullah Basith resident of Hyderabad, who was connected with accused Adnan Hassan and some of his associates, are in regular touch with each other and conspiring to further the activities of ISIS,” NIA said
They were allegedly conspiring to take up further activities of ISIS. Based on these inputs, raids were conducted, the release said.
AN OFFICIAL RELEASE FROM THE INVESTIGATING AGENCY