The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested two alleged Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sympathisers from Hyderabad. The two accused had allegedly involved in planning acts of terror on the instructions of ISIS. The arrest is part of NIA's larger probe into Indian youngsters being radicalised to carry out terror strikes on behalf of the banned international terror outfit.
NIA spokesperson said they have arrested Hyderabad-based Mohammed Abdullah Basith (24) and Mohammed Abdul Qhadeer (19) to "ascertain the details of the ongoing conspiracy and also their role in furthering the ISIS ideology to carry out terrorist acts in India".
The duo came under the radar of the security agency after it received information from a reliable source that the accused are associated with a group of three youth who were arrested from Maharashtra's Nagpur airport two years back for allegedly training youth to carry out terrorist attacks.
NIA is probing a case since 2016 where it is alleged that the members of ISIS "were involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train Indian Muslim youth on behalf of the proscribed outfit ISIS to carry out terror activities."
In 2016, NIA arrested Sheikh Azhar ul Islam, Mohammed Farhan Shaikh and Adnan Hassan in connection with the case.
During their trial, Sheikh Azhar ul Islam and Mohammed Farhan Shaikh were sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, while the trial against accused Adnan Hassan is still going on.
The central agency conducted raids at 7 locations in Hyderabad on August 6. A lot of incriminating materials were recovered and seized during the raids, and they have been sent to CFSL Hyderabad for analysis and data extraction.
"The initial questioning/interviewing done so far has brought out the involvement of accused Abdullah Basith, Mohd Abdul Qhadeer and other associates pledging their allegiance to the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS to carry out terror activities in India," the NIA spokesperson said.
—With inputs from PTI