ISIS operatives sent to 12-day police custody

RAJKOT: Two brothers with suspected ISIS links who were arrested for allegedly hatching plans to conduct “lone-wolf ” attacks in Gujarat were on Monday sent to 12-day police custody by a court here.

The investigators wanted to ascertain if the siblings had any attempts to trigger blasts in the past and indulged in other subversive activities.

The Anti-terrorism Squad, which sought 14-day custody of the duo, said it also wanted to find out if there is any sleeper cell of the ISIS in the state. Judicial Magistrate R A Singh, however, granted 12-day custody of Waseem Ramodiya and his brother Naeem, who were arrested on Sunday.

The ATS said it wanted to find out from where the two had bought explosive materials, used in making bombs recovered from them.

The ATS wanted to find out from the duo whether they had in the past made any attempt to carry out blasts or indulged in other anti-national activities. Listing reasons for seeking custody of the duo, ATS ACP Ramesh Faldu told the court it also wanted to find out if ISIS sleeper cells are active in Gujarat.

Wasim and Naeem, who hold MCA and BCA degrees respectively, were allegedly in contact with ISIS handlers and were planning to target religious places like Chotila.

Based on specific information about their alleged activities “inspired by the jihadi ideology of ISIS”, ATS officials nabbed Wasim from Rajkot and his younger brother Naeem from Bhavnagar in an early morning operation on Sunday. MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons, also possibly the last, to controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik in connection with its money laundering probe case against him and others.

Officials said the agency issued the fourth summons to Naik, via his lawyer and through e-mail, to join the probe even as it rejected his plea to depose before investigators via an Internet-based video link from abroad.

They indicated that the latest summons could well possibly be the last issued to him and the agency may move court for an arrest warrant against him, if he again choses to ignore the summons. The ED officials had earlier indicated inability to allow the video link proposal as such a remedy is not allowed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).