Al Qaeda terrorists nabbed from Kerala, Bengal; were targeting navy base: NIA

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested nine men with alleged Al Qaeda links from West Bengal and Kerala. They are accused of being radicalised by a Pakistan-based Al Qaeda module. NIA said that the men were radicalised on social media and motivated to undertake attacks at multiple places. They were arrested in raids carried out in Bengal's Murshidabad and Kerala's Ernakulam. NIA nabbed Leu Yean Ahmed and Abu Sufiyan from West Bengal among others. From Kerala, the agency arrested three including Mosaraf Hossen and Murshid Hasan. Six of them were arrested in West Bengal while three were nabbed in Kerala. NIA informed that the Al Qaeda module was actively indulged in fundraising. A few gang members were planning to travel to New Delhi to procure arms and ammunition, it said. NIA added that the arrests have pre-empted possible terrorist attacks in the country.