NIA busts ISIS-inspired module; 10 arrested from UP, Delhi

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 26

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today claimed to have busted a “highly radicalised” suspected IS-inspired terror module “Harkat-Ul-Harb-e-Islam” (war for the cause of Islam) allegedly planning suicide attacks on vital installations, sensitive locations and crowded places in and around Delhi and NCR.

The agency arrested 10 suspects in early morning searches across 17 locations in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh with support of the Anti-Terrorism Squad besides Delhi Police and their UP counterparts. Six persons reportedly associated with the module are being interrogated.

“The members were in an advanced stage of preparation. They were just waiting for the successful assembly of bombs and wanted to hit multiple locations using remote-controlled IEDs, fidayeen attacks using suicide vests and pipe bombs,” Alok Mittal, NIA spokesperson and Inspector General, told mediapersons.

A homemade rocket launcher, material for suicide vests, 100 alarm clocks (to be used as timers), 25 kg of bomb-making material like potassium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulphur were recovered during the raids. A cache of handmade weapons, 12 pistols, hundreds of live bullets rounds, 100 mobile phones, 135 SIM cards and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash were also seized, said Mittal.

Of the 10 arrested, five are from Amroha and the rest from Seelampur and Jafrabad localities of northeast Delhi.

The alleged mastermind, 29-year Mohammed Sohail, alias Hazrath, was arrested from Amroha in western Uttar Pradesh on December 20 and a case was registered under sections of the Explosive Substances Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against him.

“He (Suhail) was presently staying at Jafrabad, Delhi, and had tasked other team members with procuring arms, explosives and other accessories to prepare IEDs and pipe bombs,” said the NIA in its statement.

Others arrested include an engineering student of a private university in Noida, a third-year graduation student in humanities, an auto-rickshaw driver, two brothers who worked as welders and two garments businessman.

Saqib Iftekar, a native of Hapur and Imam in Jama Masjid, Baksar, Uttar Pradesh, has also been arrested for helping Suhail procure weapons.

“So far, no criminal record of any of the arrested members of the module has surfaced. It seems they were self-trained and self-motivated through Internet,” Mittal said, alleging the agency had in its possession a video of Sohail demonstrating how to complete a bomb circuit.

Mittal said the suspects had done a reconnaissance of vital government installations and planned to target political figures and other important persons.

“The level of preparation showed they were planning to carry out fidayeen attacks in the near future,” Mittal said, adding the module, founded four months ago, was communicating through encrypted messaging apps WhatsApp, Telegram.

The NIA believes the module has foreign-based handler(s) but their identity and location is still being probed.

The officials refused to comment on media reports quoting other agencies involved in the operation that RSS headquarters and Delhi Police headquarters were also on the hit list. “They (other agencies) can say whatever they feel like. But being the probing agency of this case... we can’t make any such claim unless we have some corroborative material to support it,” an NIA officer said. The accused would be produced before the court on Thursday.