The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday raided 19 locations across four states and arrested eight operatives of the Islamic States’ Ballari module, inluding its head Minaz alias Md. Sulaiman.
The federal agency claimed to have foiled the alleged plans by the accused to carry out terror acts, especially Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts.
The early morning crackdown against the terror group took place in Ballari and Bengaluru in Karnataka, Amaravati, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand and Delhi.
Besides Minaz, those arrested have been identified as Syed Sameer from Ballari; Anas Iqbal Shaikh from Mumbai; Mohammad Muniruddin, Syid Samiullah alias Sami and Md Muzammil from Bengaluru; Shayan Rahman alias Hussain from Delhi; and Md. Shahbaz alias Zulfikar alias Guddu from Jamshedpur.
"The eight ISIS agents arrested during the raids were involved in actively promoting terror and terror-related acts and activities of ISIS, the proscribed organisation. They were operating under the leadership of Minaz alias Md Sulaiman," the agency said.
The raids also led to the seizure of explosive raw materials, such as sulphur, potassium nitrate, charcoal, gunpowder, sugar and ethanol, sharp-edged weapons, unaccounted cash and incriminating documents, along with smartphones and other digital devices.
The official said investigations have further revealed that the accused, in pursuance of the path of violent Jihad, Khilafat and ISIS, were continuously in touch with one another via encrypted apps.
"They were specifically aiming at college students for the purposes of recruitment, and were also circulating documents relating to the recruitment of Mujahideen for the purpose of Jihad," the spokesperson said.