17 cases, 122 arrests by NIA pertaining to Islamic State cases in South India

New Delhi, Sep 16: The National Investigation Agency has registered 17cases related to the presence of Islamic State in the southern states.

The states in which cases have been registered are Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Further the agency has also arrested 122 operatives, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

The MHA also said that there have been instances of individuals from different states, including the ones in South India having joined the ISIS. This has come to the notice of the Centre and the State Security Agencies as well.

The probe by the NIA has revealed that the ISIS is most active in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kishan Reddy said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

Recently the NIA charged 17 ISIS terrorists for plotting attacks in South India. The chargesheet was filed against 17 conspirators who formed a terror group initiated by two terrorists from Bengaluru and Cuddalore.

The NIA in its chargesheet said that the conspirators who formed the terror group are ISIS cadres, Mehboob Pasha from Bengaluru and Khaja Moideen of Cuddalore. The case was originally registered by the Bengaluru police. The case relates to Pasha, a resident of Bengaluru, who in association with Moideen and Sadiq Basha, formed a terror group for spreading the ideology and activities of the ISIS.

The accused persons were conspiring with other co-accused persons at the houses and Al-Hind Office of Pasha in Bengaluru and Cuddalore. The conspiracy was hatched in 2019 and the accused persons were planning on carrying out attacks in South India.

Pasha and Moideen recruited vulnerable youth and procured arms and ammunition and large quantities of explosive material for making powerful IEDs. They also collected jungle training material to conduct training at Shivanasamudra and Gundelpet in Karnataka. The accused persons were also communicating with unknown foreign ISIS handlers through the dark web. Further investigations are on.