NIA suspects their involvement in the distribution of sticky bombs, magnetic bombs, Improvised Explosive Devices, funds, narcotic substances and arms
Our Bureau
Bengaluru/Patna/New Delhi
In a major breakthrough this week, seven country-made pistols, live bullets, walkie-talkie sets and dagger were among the arms and ammunition recovered from five terror suspects who had been radicalised to carry out attacks and were arrested by Bengaluru Police.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said on Wednesday that the preliminary interrogation shows that five accused were radicalised by one of the main accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast case. “Five accused have been arrested. The preliminary interrogation indicates that five accused, along with another person who is absconding and who is likely to be abroad now, they were involved in a 2017 murder case. And when they were inside the jail regarding this case, they came in contact with Nazeer, one of the of the main accused in 2008 serial blast case,” he said.
“Nazeer seems to have radicalised these individuals, especially the one who is now absconding and the person who is presently abroad, he has activated this module and he has supplied these weapons and other equipment for the purpose of carrying out certain subversive activities in Bengaluru city,” he added.
The officer said that based on credible information, the Crime Branch has been successful in pre-empting and preventing a possible subversive activity in Bengaluru city.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the case should be handed over to National Investigation Agency. “There is a big conspiracy. They wanted to do serial bomb blasts in Bengaluru. This case should be handed over to NIA (National Investigation Agency).”
The Bengaluru case is one among the several cases which hint at a growing terror threat across the country. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out searches at five locations in Kashmir in a case pertaining to the criminal conspiracy for carrying out terrorist and subversive activities hatched by the cadres and Overground Workers (OGWs) of various proscribed organizations and their affiliates or off-shoots operating under various pseudo names at the behest of their Pakistani commanders and handlers.
The raids were conducted against newly floated offshoots of proscribed Pakistan-backed banned terrorist outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said. The locations being raided by the NIA sleuths are residential premises of hybrid terrorists and OGWs linked with the newly-formed offshoots and affiliates of several banned Kashmiri terrorist outfits. Premises of sympathisers and cadres of these organisations are also being raided.
All these cadres and workers are being investigated for activities relating to terror, violence and subversion in Jammu and Kashmir. The NIA suspects their involvement in the collection and distribution of sticky bombs, magnetic bombs, Improvised Explosive Devices, funds, narcotic substances and arms and ammunition.
This is the NIA’s second raid in the case within 15 days. The agency had conducted raids at five locations in South Kashmir on July 11. The places earlier searched by the NIA include three districts of Anantnag, Shopian and Pulwama in the Kashmir valley. It led to the seizure of several digital devices containing massive incriminating data.
Earlier in a different case, the NIA arrested an “expert arms trainer” as one more prime accused in the Bihar case relating to the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), taking the total number of arrests in the case to 15. Yaqub Khan, 22, alias Sultan alias Usman, a resident of East Champaran district in Bihar, was arrested on charges pertaining to unlawful and anti-national activities of PFI cadres and members. The NIA had earlier arrested 14 accused and seized several incriminating articles and documents related to the case. Four accused were charge-sheeted in the case on January 7 this year.
NIA investigations have revealed that Yaqub Khan was an “expert arms trainer of the PFI and had conducted many training sessions in furtherance of the outfit’s aggressive and violent agenda and activities.”
Meanwhile in Uttar Pradesh, NIA on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old student of Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for his alleged links with ISIS, a proscribed terrorist organisation. The accused, Faizan Ansari alias Faiz, was arrested after searches at his house and rented accommodation in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh as part of NIA’s crackdown against modules of ISIS operating in the country, said the NIA.
As per the NIA, Faizan had hatched a criminal conspiracy along with his associates and other unknown individuals through social media platforms to support ISIS activities in India and disseminate the outfit’s propaganda over various social media platforms.
