NIA felicitates 5 Pune city policemen for arrest of ISIS terror suspects

While performing night patrolling duty, Chavan and Najan had nabbed three suspects—Mohammed Shahnawaz Alam alias Shafi alias Abdulla of Jharkhand, Mohammed Yusuf Khan and Mohammed Yunus Mohammed Yakub Saki, both from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh—on suspicion of vehicle theft from Kothrud area, around 2.30 am on July 18.

Later, while searching their residence in Kondhwa, they recovered a live cartridge, four cell phones, a laptop and other incriminating material. Alam allegedly escaped from police custody when the suspects were being taken for the house search. A probe revealed that both Khan and Saki were “most wanted” by NIA in a case relating to recovery of explosives from a car in Rajasthan in March 2022. Posing as graphic designers, Alam, Khan and Saki were living in Kondhwa, police said.

ATS took over the probe from Pune police and arrested a few more suspects for ISIS links. Investigation was handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA) on August 8, which named it as Pune ISIS module case. In October 2023, Alam was arrested by Delhi police. During a further probe NIA arrested Shamil Nachan and his father Saqib Nachan, the key accused, from Padgha in Thane rural, for their alleged links with ISIS.

A probe had revealed that ISIS terror suspects held from Pune allegedly “organised and participated in bomb-making workshops”, prepared a demo IED and conducted a “controlled explosion” at Kondhwa in 2022. They were alleged to have conducted bomb tests in jungles of Pune and other places. Explosive material, tents, a drone and several electronic devices were seized from them.