NIA raids 30 locations in Tamil Nadu, Telangana in ISIS recruitment case
The agency also seized various digital devices, documents, and both Indian and foreign currency
- Crime
NewsTAP Bureau- Updated On:16 Sep 2023 10:26 AM GMT
HYDERABAD: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday raided 30 locations in Tamil Nadu and Telangana in connection with an ISIS radicalization and recruitment probe.
According to reports, the NIA conducted these searches at 21 locations in Coimbatore, three in Chennai and one in Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu.
The agency also searched five locations in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Following new evidence of a module of ISIS with links to the Coimbatore car blast suspects, these searches were conducted at the residences of people connected to the case.
The NIA nabbed an accused linked to the ISIS-inspired Car IED bomb blast in Coimbatore earlier this month for his involvement in the 2022 terror incident earlier this month.
Based on the leads provided by him, the NIA began searches at different locations.
The agency also seized various digital devices, documents, and both Indian and foreign currency. The anti-terror agency is currently examining the data from mobile phones, laptops, and hard discs seized during raids in Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Several incriminating books in vernacular and Arabic languages, as well as Rs 60 lakhs in Indian currency and 18,200 US dollars, were recovered during the searches.
Radicalization was carried out through Arabic language classes at Regional Study Centers, and online through social media platforms and mobile applications like WhatsApp and Telegram, according to NIA.
NIA investigations revealed that ISIS-inspired agents propagated Khilafat ideology, which is inimical with India's constitutional principles of secularism and democracy.
The group involved in the case conspired to radicalize and recruit youth, who were later found involved in terrorist and unlawful activities, including the Coimbatore car bomb blast case on October 23, 2022.
A case was registered by NIA Chennai under sections 120B and 121A of the IPC and sections 13, 18, and 18B of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, pertaining to clandestine operations by a group of individuals to radicalise gullible youth.
