Updated: September 19, 2020 2:18:22 pm
The NIA headquarters in New Delhi. (Photo / File Express)
The National Investigative Agency (NIA) arrested nine suspected al Qaeda operatives on Saturday for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack in various parts of the country at the behest of Pakistani handlers.
The agency swooped in on the group operating from Murshidabad in West Bengal and Ernakulam in Kerala in a morning raid, recovering locally made pistols, a rudimentary bulletproof vest, literature on homemade improvised explosive devices and other “incriminating material.” .
The sources said the raids were carried out on the basis of intelligence information that suggested the group was preparing for an attack. The members had been under surveillance for the past few months.
“The NIA learned of an interstate module of Al-Qaeda operatives in various locations in India, including West Bengal and Kerala. The group planned to carry out terrorist attacks on vital facilities in India with the aim of killing innocent people and sowing terror in their minds, ”the NIA said in a statement. Following the supplies, the agency registered an FIR on September 11 and arrested the defendants on Saturday.
The agency claimed to have recovered “a large quantity of digital devices, documents, jihadist literature, sharp weapons, firearms made in the country, a locally made bulletproof vest, articles and literature used to make homemade explosive devices” from the defendants.
Five of the nine arrested
An NIA source said the group was led by one Murshid Hassan from Ernakulam, and that all of the group’s individuals in Kerala and West Bengal were “connected.” The defendants arrested in Kerala came from West Bengal and had come to Ernakulam as day laborers.
An official said the defendants had to be arrested as they had recently acquired batteries, switches, cables and firecrackers that could be used to make a bomb. “They planned to use potassium chlorate obtained from the cookies as an explosive in the bomb,” the official said.
He added that the group had acquired some firearms from Delhi that they were supposed to deliver in Kashmir on the instructions of their Pakistani handlers. However, they had not yet been told who or what group from Kashmir would receive them.
Fire crackers and batteries seized by NIA.
According to the preliminary investigation, these individuals were radicalized by Pakistan-based Al-Qaeda terrorists on social media and were motivated to carry out attacks in multiple locations, including the National Capital Region. To this end, the module was actively participating in fundraising and some members of the gang 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, ”said the NIA.
NIA Arrests Nine Al-Qaeda Terrorists From West Bengal And Kerala pic.twitter.com/qL7p4rR9lc
– NIA India (@NIA_India) September 19, 2020
The Kerala defendants have been identified as Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswa and Mosaraf Hossen. Two of them were arrested in Perumbavoor, one of the largest migrant centers in Kerala. The third was arrested in Pathalam, a neighborhood in the Ernakulam district. A senior police official who participated in the raid in Perumbavoor said that one of the defendants used to work as a salesman in a textile store. All three were not under the radar of the local police. They were arrested at their homes.
Those from West Bengal have been identified as Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman.
The defendants will be brought before the competent courts in Kerala and West Bengal for police custody and further investigation, the NIA said.
(With input from Vishnu Varma)
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