New Delhi: Widening the scope of its investigation in the Maharashtra Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) module case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in coordination with state police and Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) Saturday arrested 15 operatives of the terror outfit after raiding 44 locations spread across Maharashtra and Karnataka.
In a wider spectrum of raids initiated in the early hours of Saturday, NIA raided locations in Padgha-Borivali, Thane, Mira Road and Pune in Maharashtra, and Bengaluru in Karnataka, seizing 51 Hamas flags, one pistol, two air guns, eight swords/knives, two laptops, six hard disks, three CDs, 38 mobile phones, 10 magazine books, and Rs 68 lakh in cash.
The counterterrorism agency said that those apprehended were working on the directions of the handlers based overseas and were allegedly involved in terror activities such as the fabrication of IEDs.
“NIA investigations have further revealed that the accused, all members of ISIS Maharashtra module, were operating from Padgha-Borivali, where they had hatched the conspiracy to spread terror and carry out acts of violence across India. Pursuing the path of violent Jihad, Khilafat, ISIS etc., the accused had aimed to disturb the peace and communal harmony of the country and to wage a war against the Government of India,” the agency said in a statement issued Saturday.
‘Padgha base’
The NIA also said that an individual named Saqib Nachan was leading the module from the Padgha-Borivali region in Maharashtra and had declared Padgha village in the rural part of Thane district as a “liberated zone” and “Al-Sham”.
The term ‘Al-Sham’ is an Arabic term used for Levant or greater Syria.
Members of the module, it added, were influencing youth from the Muslim community to relocate to Padgha village in rural Thane to strengthen the “Padgha base”.
The leader of the module, Nachan, was administering the “bayath” — an Arabic word for “oath of allegiance to the Khalifa of ISIS” — to every individual joining the module, said the NIA.
Adding that all of those arrested in connection with the case hail from the Thane district, the agency identified them as: Hasib Zuber Mulla alias Haseeb Zubair Mulla; Kashif Abdul Sattar Balere; Saif Ateeque Nachan; Rehan Ashfaque Suse; Shagaf Safiq Divkar; Firoz Dastagir Kuwari; Adil Iliyas Khot; Firoz Dastagir Kuwari; Musab Haseeb Mulla; Rafil Abdul Latif Nachan; Yahya Ravish Khot; Razil Abdul Latif Nachan; Farhan Ansar Suse; Mukhlis Maqbool Nachan; and Munzir Abubakar Kunnathpeedikal.
Detailing the role of some of the accused, the NIA said one was arrested for possession of Hamas flags, while four others were apprehended for possession of weapons including guns, knives and swords and another three were found to be in possession of the cash.
The NIA took over the case on 6 November this year at the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), nearly a month after the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Shahnawaz Alam, Mohammad Rizwan Ashraf and Mohammad Arshad Warsi for allegedly being part of the same ISIS module.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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