NIA arrests TN-Kerala ISIS module mastermind; recovers 14 mobiles, 29 SIM cards

Coimbatore: National Investigation Agency on Wednesday recovered 14 mobiles, 29 SIM cards and other incriminating materials including 300 air-gun pellets and posters of some proscribed organisation during its searches in Coimbatore in connection with ISIS Tamil Nadu-Kerala case.

" During the searches, digital devices including 14 mobile phones, 29 SIM cards, 10 pen drives, 3 laptops, 6 memory cards, 4 hard disc drives, 1 Internet dongle and 13 CDs/DVDs besides one dagger, one electric baton, 300 air-gun pellets and a large number of incriminating documents and few pamphlets of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) have been seized from the houses and workplaces of accused persons," the agency said in a statement.

The terror crime investigators also arrested Mohammed Azarudeen, the alleged mastermind of ISIS Tamil Nadu module who was a Facebook friend of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim. "Azarudeen was the leader of the module and was maintaining a Facebook page named "KhilafahGFX", through which he had been propagating the ideology of ISIS/ Daish," said the agency.

A case has been registered under section 18,18-B,38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against him.

The agency had on May 30 filed a case against six identified people and some others based on an information that the accused persons and their associates were propagating the ideology of proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS/ Daish on social media with the intention of recruiting vulnerable youth into the ISIS/ Daish for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.