In a major crackdown on the radicalisation and recruitment plans of ISIS, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday conducted elaborate searches at 31 locations in Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The anti-terror agency seized incriminating documents, digital devices and Indian and foreign currencies.
NIA teams swooped down on the premises of suspects in the TN ISIS radicalization and recruitment case on Saturday morning, at 22 locations in Coimbatore, three in Chennai and one in Kadaiyanallur of Tenkasi district in Tamil Nadu. Raids were conducted at five locations in Hyderabad, Telangana. The NIA is now involved in the process of examining the data contained in the seized mobile phones, laptops and hard discs. The agency had also seized incriminating books in vernacular and Arabic languages. A total of Rs 60 lakh in Indian currency and $18,200 were also seized.
According to the press release from the agency, the case registered by NIA Chennai under sections 120B, 121A of IPC and sections 13, 18, 18B of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, pertains to clandestine operations by a group of individuals to radicalize gullible youth. “The radicalization was being carried out in the garb of holding Arabic language classes, conducted through their regional study centres. Such radicalization activities were being flashed online through social media platforms and mobile applications like WhatsApp and Telegram,” the release said.
NIA investigations have revealed that the ISIS-inspired provocateurs were engaged in the propagation of Khilafat ideology, which is inimical to India’s constitutionally established principles of secularism and democracy. The persons involved in the case had entered into a conspiracy to radicalise and recruit youth who were later found involved in terrorist as well as unlawful acts and activities. One such terror attack was the Coimbatore car bomb blast case on October 23, 2022.
The press release also said that “the investigations in the case are continuing, as part of NIA’s concerted efforts to thwart ISIS attempts to initiate vulnerable and susceptible youth into the terrorist network, that is working actively to spread terror in the country.”