NIA busts major terror module; politicians, vital installations on target; 10 held

Important personalities including politicians and vital installations were on the hit of list of ISIS-inspired terror module, which NIA busted on Wednesday by raiding 17 locations in Delhi and UP and held 10 persons from whom cash, mobile phones, SIM cards, arms and ammunition including a rocket launcher were recovered.

"Vital installations, important places, important personalities, and crowded places were on their targets. The level of preparation suggests that they planned to do an attack at the earliest. They were focusing on remote control bombs as well as Fidayeen attack," said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Inspector General (IG) Alok Mittal here while briefing media about Wednesday's raids, seizures, and arrests.

"We conducted searches at 17 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in connection with a new ISIS-styled terror module 'Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam' which was in an advanced stage of carrying out a series of blasts. Searches have been conducted in Delhi's Seelampur and UP's Amroha, Hapur, Meerut, and Lucknow. Large quantities of explosive material, weapons, and ammunition including a country made rocket launcher have been recovered so far," said Mittal, while sharing details of the raids.

Asserting that those arrested were allegedly in touch with some of their foreign handlers, NIA IG said: "This was an entirely new ISIS-inspired module in which they were in touch with some foreign-based handlers, exact location and identity of whom is yet to be established. The gang leader of the module is called Mufti Sohail, who stays in Delhi and is a native of Amroha in UP where he works in a mosque."

Revealing that the module was largely self-funded, Mittal said: "Rs 7.5 lakh cash was recovered during the raids along with nearly 100 mobile phones, 135 SIM cards, laptops, and memory chips. Some of the searches are still underway. After initial interrogation of 16 suspects, we have decided to arrest 10 accused. The current information suggests the entire planning was largely self-funded. Some accused have stolen gold from their homes and purchased alarm clock, explosive instruments, and other materials."

NIA IG also said that the members of the module have extensively used the messaging application like WhatsApp for their internal communication.