Agencies searching for three suspected IS operatives in Delhi, among them, an ‘IED expert’

All of them are wanted in Pune IS module case, in which several arrests have been made in last few months. NIA offered Rs 3 lakh reward for information on them earlier this month.

Representational image: NIA officials | ANI

New Delhi: Multiple agencies launched combined raids in the national capital Saturday in search of three alleged operatives of the banned terrorist group Islamic State (IS), according to intelligence sources.

All of them are wanted in the Pune IS module case, in which several arrests have been made over the last few months. 

Earlier this month, National Investigation Agency (NIA) released pictures of four terror suspects — including these three — in the case, offering a reward of Rs 3 lakh for any information leading to their arrest. The four are: Talha Liyakat Khan from Pune, Md. Shahnawaz Safiuzzama Alam alias Abdullah from Jharkhand, and Abdulla Faiyaz Shaikh alias Daiperwala and Rizwan Abdul Haji Ali from Delhi.

An intelligence source told ThePrint that a “breakthrough is expected shortly”.

Agencies have closed in on Shahnawaz, who is believed to be a mining engineer, in Delhi, it is learnt. According to sources, he is an expert in “fabrication and assembly” of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). The other two suspects being tracked down are Daiperwala and Ali. 

Shahnawaz fled the Pune police in July this year. According to media reports, he and two others were arrested while trying to steal a two-wheeler vehicle. The two others with him were also allegedly involved in a terror case in Rajasthan. On the way to their residence for further searches, Shahnawaz allegedly jumped out of a police vehicle. 

The NIA has carried out raids and seized a host of incriminating material allegedly exposing the banned terrorist organisation’s conspiracy to disrupt peace and communal harmony in the country, an official had said at the time. 

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)