ISIS Maharashtra module case: NIA arrests 6th person involved in fabrication of IEDs

Aakif was found actively involved in the promotion of terror-related activities of the ISIS, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation, in collaboration with four other accused, namely Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki and Abdul Kadir Pathan (all arrested recently by ATS Pune), along with some other suspects, the agency said.

Imran Khan and Mohammed Yunus Saki, members of ‘Sufa terrorist gang’, were absconding and had been declared ‘most wanted’ by the NIA in a case relating to the recovery of explosives from a car in Rajasthan in April 2022.

NIA nabbed Aakif after a series of raids in Borivali and Bhiwandi Tehsil of Thane. Several incriminating materials, such as electronic gadgets and documents, were also seized during the raids, the agency said.

Besides the assembly of IEDs and purchasing materials and components for the fabrication of IEDs, Aakif had facilitated the stay of Imran and Yunus at a house in Kondhwa, Pune.

The accused had organised and participated in bomb-making workshops in Kondhwa in 2022 and had also been involved in the preparation of a demo IED and conduct of a controlled explosion at this location, NIA statement said.

As per NIA investigations, the accused had hatched a conspiracy to further the terrorist activities of ISIS (also known as Islamic State)/ Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/ Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/ Daish/ Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)/ ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K)).

Aakif had planned to commit terrorist acts to disturb the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country, and wage a war against the Government of India, the agency said.

This is the sixth arrest by NIA in the ISIS Maharashtra module case, relating to ISIS conspiracy to disrupt nation’s peace.

The case was registered by NIA on June 28. Last month, the agency had arrested five accused, Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu Nusaiba (Pune), and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala (Thane) and Dr. Adnan Sarkar from Kondhva, Pune.

The arrests followed extensive searches by the National Investigation Agency in Mumbai, Thane and Pune.