NIA conducts raids in Wardha, Telangana

Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted multi-location raids in Wardha and Telangana and detained Islamic State (IS) sympathisers Saturday. In the raid carried out at Wardha, the central agency detained a married woman for her alleged terror role in the ongoing investigation in a 2016 case involving the IS’s Abu Dhabi module.

The NIA confirmed the raids, adding that searches were conducted at three places in Hyderabad and one place in Wardha. Several teams of the anti-terror agency conducted these raids simultaneously, based on developments in the probe into the Abu Dhabi module of the IS.

“The raids were carried out based on reliable information regarding the activities of the accused persons. The teams have detained four suspects who are now being interrogated in connection with the module,” stated a release issued by the NIA.

The investigation teams seized a number of digital devices, including 13 mo-bile phones, 11 SIM cards, an iPad, two laptops, an external hard disk, six pen drives, six SD cards, and three walkie-talkie sets of the Kenwood brand. The officials also seized several incriminating documents from the houses of the suspects who have also been detained.

The NIA had busted the Abu Dhabi module of the IS in 2016, which was headed by Maharashtra’s Mohammad Farhad, Karnataka’s Adnan Hussain, and Kashmir native Shaikh Asar Al-Islam. Hussain, who was later deported from Abu Dhabi, had been sourcing funds to Hussain for passing on to IS sympathisers in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

As per the charge sheet filed by the NIA before the Patiala House court in Delhi in February this year, the module was the source of funding for sending gullible Muslim youth, mostly from Kerala, to Afghanistan and Syria. Sajeer Abdullah, alleged Amir of Kerala, fled the country and reportedly reached Afghanistan via Abu Dhabi with the help of the module.