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NEW DELHI — The National Investigation Agency on Monday busted a Maharashtra-based ISIS module by arresting four people for allegedly promoting terrorist activities at the behest of the proscribed outfit, an official said.
The intelligence-led operation in Mumbai, Thane and Pune led to the arrest of Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Nagpada, Mumbai; Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias "Abu Nusaiba" from Kondhwa, Pune; and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Padgha, Thane, the official said.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]The NIA said extensive searches were conducted at five locations in the case, registered on June 28.
NIA teams seized several incriminating material such as electronic gadgets and documents related to the ISIS during the searches at the houses of the accused, the official said.
The material seized clearly exposed the strong and active linkages of the accused with the ISIS and their efforts to motivate vulnerable youth to further the terror organisation's anti-India agenda, the official said.
The agency said its preliminary investigations have established that the accused hatched a conspiracy to further the terrorist activities of ISIS.
"The accused were trying to breach the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country and preparing to wage a war against the Government of India, as part of the ISIS conspiracy, by raising and operating a sleeper cell in Maharashtra," the official said.
The agency said the raids followed credible inputs that the accused Siddiqui, Shaikh, Sharjeel Shaikh and Barodawala and their associates had recruited youth and trained them in the fabrication of IEDs and weapons.
The accused had also shared relevant material, including Do it Yourself kits' (DIY), amongst themselves for fabrication of IEDs and manufacture of small weapons and Pistols, the official said.
Further, on the directions of their foreign-based ISIS handlers, the accused had also created inflammatory media content, which was published in the magazine Voice of Hind', in furtherance of the banned outfit's agenda of terror and violence, the official said.