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NIA claims two arrested from Pune had links with ISIS
The two were found to be in touch with accused from a case that NIA Delhi is investigating. The case is related to the link of two persons from Kashmir with members of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP)
The two persons arrested from Pune by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had landed on their radar over suspicion of trying to recruit youth for terrorist organisation ISIS and procuring weapons, according to a statement issued by NIA Delhi.
The woman was identified as Sadiya Anwar Sheikh (22), a resident of Phulenagar area of Yerawada; and Nabeel S Khatri (27), a resident of Kondhwa.
“It has also come to light that along with Jahanzeb Sami and Abdullah Basith, accused Khatri was also actively involved in the planning to carry out violent terrorist attacks in India by arranging logistic support such as procurement of weapons, fake SIM cards, assembling of improvised explosive devices to further the activities of ISIS in India,” read the statement.
The two were found to be in touch with accused from a case that NIA Delhi is investigating. The case is related to the link of two persons from Kashmir with members of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). NIA had arrested a Kashmiri couple identified as Jahanzeb Sami Wani and his wife Hina Bashir Beigh from Jamianagar, Okhla Vihar, Delhi in the case in March.
The Kashmiri couple had first landed on NIA radar for links with a man identified as Abdullah Basith who is lodged in Tihar jail in another NIA case, according to the statement.
While Khatri is a gym trainer in Pune, Sadiya is a second year student of Mass Communication in Baramati, according to the NIA statement.
“The investigation has revealed that accused Sadiya Sheikh was continuously in touch with Jahanzeb Sami, Hina Bashir Beigh and Abdullah Basith on various secure messaging applications and deliberating on as to how to propagate the ideology of ISIS and further its activities in India. They were trying to build up a cadre of ISIS in India by recruiting gullible youth for terrorist activities,” read the statement.
Sadiya was detained by Jammu and Kashmir police in January 2018 when she was 18 years old. The ATS unit in Pune had also apprehended her in 2015 when she was a minor as she was suspected to have inclination towards joining ISIS through online radicalisation. After her return to Pune in 2018, she was subjected to a “re-radicalisation” process.
The two were lodged in Faraskhana police station lock-up on Sunday night and flown to Delhi for further investigation on Monday. They will be produced in NIA special court in Delhi.
