The National Investigation Agency or NIA
foiled a plan to trigger IED blasts after it arrested eight terrorists linked
to an Islamic State module in Karnataka’s Ballari on Monday.
The agency had conducted raids this
morning in 19 locations across four States, including Maharashtra’s Mumbai and
Pune and Delhi.
Caches of explosive materials, such as
sulphur, potassium nitrate, and gunpowder, as well as weapons and documents
with details of proposed strikes have been seized, said the anti-terror agency.
Apart from this, the NIA recovered
sharp-edged weapons like daggers, cash, and digital devices.
The leader of the Ballari module –
Minaz, also known as Mohammed Sulaiman – is among those who were taken into
custody in these ops, which were carried out by the NIA jointly with police in Karnataka’s
Ballari and Bengaluru, Maharashtra’s Pune and Mumbai, and Delhi, as well as
Jharkhand’s Bokaro.
The terrorists, who used IM apps to
communicate with each other, planned to use the explosive materials to create
IEDs or improvised explosive devices, to carry out unspecified, terror acts.
They reportedly also targeted college
students to radicalise and recruit.
The NIA case against the Ballari module
was filed last week. Since then, the agency has been working closely with State
police and other central agencies to hunt down and apprehend the terrorists.
Last week, the NIA raided 40 plus locations
in Maharashtra and arrested 15 people, one of whom was the leader of a module,
and was administering an oath of allegiance to new recruits.
There were also raids in Bengaluru in a
related case – one linked to radicalisation by a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist.
The agency raided locations in Bihar,
Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh, and recovered an Indian Army uniform, as well as
arms and ammunition, cash and jewelry, and other incriminating evidence.
It said the arrested suspects were “cadres
and sympathisers of PLFI (People’s Liberation Front of India, a banned group)”,
and that they were involved in a conspiracy to commit terrorist activities.
The NIA shared its probe revealed PLFI
cadres were extorting money from coal traders and other businessmen in
Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha to finance their terror activities.
NE Watch Desk
