In a joint operation, the Hyderabad police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials picked up eleven youngsters from Old City of Hyderabad late on Tuesday night. These youngsters were, the police said, were getting ready to join terror outfit Islamic State.
NIA sources told that they had information that 5 of those detained on Wednesday were involved in terrorist activities. An FIR was registered against them on June 22.
Those five people were identified as Mohammad Illiyas Yazdani, Mohammad Ibrahim, Habib Mohd, Mohammad Irfan, Abdullah Bin Ahmad, according to the NIA.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the NIA teams, assisted by Hyderabad police and Telangana Counter Intelligence sleuths, conducted searches in Mirchowk, Mogulpura, Bhavani Nagar, Barkas and at a few other places in the Old City of Hyderabad on Wednesday morning.
Rs 15 lakh cash, a 9 mm pistol, an air gun and chemicals used in highly explosive devices were recovered from the suspects. Officers found ammonium nitrate and hydrogen peroxide stored in the homes of four youths. The NIA also seized a few training materials during the searches. The module is believed to be involved in recruiting ISIS inclined youths to work as Jihadis for the Iraq and syria based global terror outfit.
The raids come at a time when parts of the city are virtually under siege, with advocates and lawyers intensifying a strike that has been on for over three weeks.
Prohibitory orders are in place in the entire area.
The members of the module were under watch for over four months after which the NIA decided to raid their hideouts here.
NIA sources said that popular public spots and religious places were their main targets. The detained ISIS sympathisers were in direct touch with their suspected handler in Syria, the NIA sources further said.
According to official sources, searches are reportedly being conducted in Bengaluru as well, from where NIA had arrested alleged ISIS suspects earlier this year. “This is unusual that during the holy month of Ramzan, Daesh (ISIS) is planning and executing terror strikes across the world including India,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.
The fresh operations by the NIA come even as suspected Islamic State terrorists attacked Turkey’s Ataturk airport in Istanbul on Wednesday, killing at least 36 people and wounding 147.
