New Delhi, December 26: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday claimed busting a ‘highly radicalised’ suspected ISIS-inspired terror module ‘Harkat-Ul-Harb-e-Islam’ allegedly planning suicide attacks to target ‘vital installations, sensitive locations and crowded places in and around Delhi and NCR’.
The agency arrested 10 suspects in early morning searches across 17 locations in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh With support of Delhi Police and the Uttar Pradesh Police and ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad). Six more persons, reportedly associated with the module which roughly translates into ‘War for the cause of Islam’, are being interrogated.
“The members were in advanced stage of preparation. They were just waiting for the successful assembly of bombs and wanted to hit multiple locations using remote controlled IEDs, fidayeen attacks using suicide vests and pipe bombs,” Alok Mittal, NIA spokesperson and Inspector General told media. A locally made yet to be tested rocket launcher, material for suicide vests, 100 alarm clocks to be used as timers, 25 kg of bomb making ingredients like potassium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulphur have been recovered during the raids. Additionally, a cache of handmade weapons, 12 locally made pistols, hundreds of live rounds of bullets, 100 mobiles and 135 SIM cards, Rs 7.5 lakh in cash were also recovered, said Mittal.
Of the 10 arrested five are from Amroha and five from Seelampur and Jaffrabad localities in north east Delhi. The alleged mastermind, 29-year Mohammed Sohail alias Hazrath, son of Hafiz Ahmed, was arrested from Amroha in western Uttar Pradesh on December 20 and case was registered under sections of the Explosive Substances Act and UA(P) Act against him.
“He (Suhail) was presently staying at Jaffrabad, Delhi, and had tasked other team members to procure arms, explosives and other accessories to prepare IEDs and pipe-bombs,” said the NIA in its statement.
Others arrested include an engineering student in a private university in Noida, a third-year graduation student in humanities , an autorickshaw driver, two brothers who are welders and two garments businessman.
Saqib Iftekar, a native of Hapur and Imam in Jama Masjid, Baksar, Uttar Pradesh, is also arrested and accused of helping Suhail procure weapons.
“So far, no criminal record of any of the arrested members of the module has surfaced. It looks like they were self-trained and self-motivated through internet,” Mittal said alleging that the agency has in its possession a video of Sohail demonstrating how to complete a bomb circuit. Mittal said the suspects had done a reconnaissance of vital government installations and planned to attack political personalities and other important persons. “The level of preparation showed they were planning to carry out fidayeen attacks in near future,” Mittal added about the module which was founded less than four months ago and was communicating through encrypted messaging apps of Whatspp and Telegram.
The NIA believes the module has foreign-based handler(s) but their identity and location is still being probed.The officials refused to comment on media reports quoting other agencies involved in the operation that RSS headquarters and Delhi Police headquarters were also on the hit list. “They (other agencies) can say whatever they feel like. But being the investigating agency of this case we cannot make any such claim unless we have some corroborative material to support it,” a senior NIA officer said.
The arrested accused would be produced before the NIA Special Court, Patiala Court House in Delhi on Thursday.
ISIS module suspect arrested in Kerala
In a separate case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) today arrested Habeeb Rehman, suspected to be with the ISIS Kasaragod module. Rehman (25), son of Moosa, a native of Wayanad in Kerala, was arrested from Kalpetta town by the agency.
The case relates to the criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused persons from Kasaragod district of Kerala and their associates since Ramadan 2015, said the agency. 14 accused from Kasaragod district had exited India or their work places in Middle-East Asia between mid-May and early July, 2016 before travelling to Afghanistan or Syria via Muscat in Oman and Iran. The accused then allegedly joined the Islamic State.
“Accused Nashidul Hamzafar (A-16) and Habeeb Rehman(A-17) continued to be in touch, over encrypted social media platforms,” said the agency. Hamzafar and Rehman were reportedly in touch with other absconding accused persons in this case like Abdul Rashid Abdulla and Ashfak Majeed (A-10) as well as with accused Bestin Vincent suspected in similar case in Palakad.
Habeeb Rahman will be produced before the Special Court for NIA cases at Ernakulam on Thursday.
