ED searches 40 locations, in probe against ISIS network, including Padgha

The searches focussed on tracing unauthorised proceeds from financial sources, including harvesting restricted forest products such as khair (Acacia Catechu) trees, and hawala trading, which could be providing financial sustenance to the accused network

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s Mumbai unit on Thursday carried out searches at 40 premises as part of its money-laundering probe into a National Investigation Agency (NIA) case of November 2023 pertaining to the alleged activities of the Maharashtra ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) module. Apart from Padgha village in rural Thane, ED officials searched a few locations in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, and some places in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

ED searches 40 locations, in probe against ISIS network, including Padgha

The searches focussed on tracing unauthorised proceeds from financial sources, including harvesting restricted forest products such as khair (Acacia Catechu) trees, and hawala trading, which could be providing financial sustenance to the accused network. ED officials said the searches also covered businessmen and business entities having alleged financial links with the accused persons, as indicated from the latter’s financial records.

As part of the massive search operations, ED teams conducted checks on 30-odd premises in Padgha itself and were accompanied by around 250 armed security personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to prevent any untoward incident or intervention from hampering the sensitive operation. On a request from the ED, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) also supplied 50-odd armed personnel. The ED Mumbai also took help from other zonal units to gather the required investigative manpower to carry out the searches.

In Padgha, the ED conducted the raid jointly with the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). Speaking to the press, minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam said that a combing operation would be launched if required. “However, I will not be able to divulge more information on the ongoing ATS raids,” he said.

The NIA had claimed that several accused persons from ISIS had declared Padgha a “liberated zone” and “Al Sham” (Arabic term for the historic region of Greater Syria). The accused were allegedly motivating impressionable Muslim youth to relocate there to strengthen the “Padgha base”, according to the NIA, which took over the case from the Delhi police Special Cell.

The NIA had charge-sheeted 21 persons in the case, including Saquib Nachan (now deceased), a self-styled ISIS chief (Amir-e-Hind). Nachan (67), who was convicted earlier for his role in the 2002-03 blasts in Mumbai, died in Delhi this June after suffering a brain haemorrhage. He was lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail after his arrest by the NIA on December 9, 2023, along with 14 other alleged ISIS operatives.

ED officials said that the probe was based on the findings recorded by the NIA in its charge sheet as well as intelligence inputs from Maharashtra’s ATS. Considering the gravity of the offence and the risk posed to national security, the ED searched multiple premises linked to the accused persons, their close associates and family members as well as entities reflecting financial linkages or suspicious monetary transactions with the accused across districts and states. The premises were searched under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The NIA probe had found that the accused persons allegedly carried out several acts in preparation for unleashing terror attacks, including recruitment of youth. The conspiracy involved recruitment, training and propagation of ISIS ideology among gullible youth along with fabrication of explosives and fund-raising for the banned outfit. The accused persons had allegedly also taken ‘bayath’ (pledge of allegiance) from Nachan, “a habitual offender in many previous terror cases and a self-styled Amir-e-Hind for ISIS in India”, according to NIA.

The NIA had initially charge-sheeted three persons in March 2023. Thereafter, it filed its supplementary chargesheet before the Special Court at Patiala House in New Delhi in June 2024 against 17 others, of whom 15 were from Maharashtra and one each from Uttarakhand and Haryana. Yet another accused was charge-sheeted in January this year.

In the course of the probe, the NIA, which was then cracking down on various ISIS modules in the country, seized several incriminating documents and data relating to the manufacturing of explosives and fabrication of IEDs along with ISIS propaganda magazines such as ‘Voice of Hind’, ‘Rumiyah’, ‘Khilafat’ and ‘Dabiq’.