NEW DELHI: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) said on Saturday that it had detained a Pakistani-sponsored al-Qaeda module that planned to attack vital facilities in India. Nine terrorists, including the module leader, were arrested early Saturday morning in simultaneous raids on Murshidabad in West Bengal and Ernakulam in Kerala.
According to the preliminary investigation, the nine arrested defendants were radicalized by Pakistan-based al-Qaeda terrorists on social media and motivated to carry out attacks in multiple locations, including the National Capital Region of Delhi. To this end, the module, led by Murshid Hasan, an Ernakulam resident who is among the 9 arrested, was actively participating in fundraising and some gang members were planning to travel to New Delhi to acquire weapons and ammunition. These arrests have anticipated possible terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, the NIA said.
The NIA had previously learned of an interstate module of al-Qaeda operatives in various locations in India, including West Bengal and Kerala, and recorded a case of it on September 11, 2020. The group planned to launch terrorist attacks on facilities vital in India with the aim of killing innocent people and sowing terror in their minds, the NIA said.
Of the nine arrests made, six were from West Bengal and three were from Kerala. A large number of incriminating materials have been seized from his possession, including digital devices, documents, jihadist literature, sharpened weapons, locally made firearms, locally made bulletproof vests, items and literature used to make homemade explosive devices.
The detained defendants were identified as: Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas and Mosaraf Hossen, all r / o Ernakulam, Kerala; Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman, all in Murshidabad, West Bengal.
The nine terrorists will be brought before the competent courts in Kerala and West Bengal for police custody and further investigation.
On Video: NIA Destroys Al Qaeda Terror Module in West Bengal, Kerala; arrest 9 operatives
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