NIA foils ISIS Ballari module plans to trigger IED blasts

The NIA raided 19 locations across four states and arrested eight operatives of the ISIS's Ballari module.

In an early morning crackdown on ISIS, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday raided 19 locations across four states and arrested eight operatives of the banned terror outfit's Ballari module, including its leader Minaz, thus foiling plans by the accused to carry out terror acts, especially IED blasts.NIA teams swooped down on the 19 locations spread across Ballari and Bengaluru in Karnataka; Amaravati, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra; Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand; and Delhi.

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. (Representational photo) (HT_PRINT)

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.

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They were operating under the leadership of Minaz @ Md. Sulaiman. 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. According to initial investigations, the accused had planned to use the explosive raw materials for the fabrication of IEDs, which were to be used for carrying out terror acts.

Investigations have further revealed that the accused, in pursuance of the path of violent Jihad, Khilafat, ISIS etc., were continuously in touch with one another via encrypted apps. They were specifically aiming at College students for "recruitment" and were also circulating documents relating to the recruitment of Mujahideen for "Jihad".

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The raids conducted today were part of NIA's efforts to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) anti-terror terror conspiracy against India. The searches were carried out through close coordination and the operational assistance of Karnataka Police, Maharashtra Police, Jharkhand Police and the Delhi Police. NIA had registered a case against the ISIS-inspired Ballari module on December 14, 2023. It has, since then, been working closely with the State Police and central agencies to track and apprehend members of this module.

The anti-terror agency has been conducting large-scale crackdowns and has busted various ISIS modules in recent months. Several terror operatives have been arrested in these raids by the NIA.

Today Minaj @ Md. Sulaiman and Syed Sameer were arrested from Ballari, Anas Iqbal Shaikh from Mumbai, Mohammad Muniruddin, Syid Samiullah @ Sami, Md Muzammil from Bengaluru, Shayan Rahman @Hussain from Delhi and Md. Shahbaz @ Zulfikar @ Guddu from Jamshedpur.