NIA busts ISIS module, four arrested from Mumbai, Thane and Pune

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested four individuals in Mumbai, Thane, and Pune for promoting terrorist activities on behalf of ISIS. The accused were found to have strong links with ISIS and were involved in recruiting and training youth, as well as creating inflammatory media content.

MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday busted an ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) module by arresting four accused for allegedly promoting terrorist activities at the behest of the proscribed terrorist outfit.

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In an intelligence-led operation, the four accused were arrested after extensive raids by the NIA in Mumbai, Thane and Pune on Monday. The accused have been identified as Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Nagpada in south Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh, Abu Nusaiba from Kondhwa in Pune, and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Padgha in Thane district.

Searches were conducted at their houses at five locations in the ISIS-Maharashtra module case, registered by the NIA on June 28, 2023, in Mumbai. NIA teams seized several incriminating materials, such as electronic gadgets and several documents related to ISIS. The material seized exposed the strong and active linkages of the accused with ISIS and their efforts to motivate vulnerable youth to further the terror organisation’s anti-India agenda, said the federal agency on Monday.

Preliminary investigation by the agency has established that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to further the terrorist activities of ISIS, known by different names, such as Islamic State (IS)/Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daish/ Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)/ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K), the release added.

According to the NIA, the accused were trying to breach the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country and preparing to wage a war against the Government of India, as part of the ISIS conspiracy, by raising and operating a Sleeper Cell in Maharashtra.

NIA raids followed credible inputs that the accused Tabish Nasser Siddiqui, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh, Abu Nusaiba, Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala and their associates had recruited youth and trained them in assembling Improvised Explosive Devices and weapons. The accused had also shared relevant material, including ‘Do it Yourself (DIY)’ kits amongst themselves for assembling IEDs and manufacturing small weapons, pistols etc, the agency said.

Further, the agency claimed that, on the directions of their foreign-based ISIS handlers, the accused had also created inflammatory media content, which was published in the magazine “Voice of Hind.” in furtherance of the banned outfit’s agenda of terror and violence.