NIA searches in TN, Telangana: Claims to foil ISIS recruitment campaign

CHENNAI: In a multi-city search held at Tamil Nadu and Telengana including places in Chennai and Coimbatore on Saturday, National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths seized several digital devices and documents and Rs 60 lakh in Indian currency and 18,200 USD.

An official release stated that searches were conducted at 31 locations in the two southern states – 22 places in Coimbatore, three in Chennai, one in Kadayanallur, Tenkasi among them.

“The anti-terror agency is in the process of examining the data contained in the mobile phones, laptops and hard discs seized during the raids. Several incriminating books in vernacular and Arabic languages were also seized during the searches, in addition to the cash, ” an official release stated.

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 radicalisation was being carried out in the garb of holding Arabic language classes conducted through their Regional Study Centers, NIA stated.

The radicalisation activities were being flashed online through social media platforms and mobile applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.

NIA investigations have revealed that the ISIS-inspired agent provocateurs were engaged in propagation of Khilafat ideology, which is inimical to India’s constitutionally established principles of secularism and democracy.

The group of 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 of which is the Coimbatore car bomb blast case, in which a radicalised youth, Jameesha Mubin was killed on October 23, 2022.

On Saturday, searches were conducted at the houses of Mubin’s acquaintances too including a ward councillor in Coimbatore.