Hyd IS module case: NIA recovers bullets, computers

New Delhi, Jul 5: Taking forward its probe into the activities of Islamic State (IS) following the arrest of its five alleged operatives in Hyderabad, the NIA today searched various locations in the city and recovered 17 rounds of ammunition, besides computers and scanners which were used for online communication.

According to the NIA, the premises of one of the arrested operatives Ibrahim was searched at Talab Katta from where a computer and scanner were seized. The equipment were allegedly used by those arrested to keep in touch with other suspected members of the IS.

At the instance of Ibrahim, the anti-terror probe agency carried out searches at the residence of another accused Habeeb in Barkas area of Hyderabad and recovered 17 live rounds of 9 mm calibre.

The NIA conducted searches at Bhawani Nagar in Talab Katta where another computer and scanner were seized, officials said, adding one of the arrested operatives Ilyas told his interrogators that the system was used to scan the written 'oath of allegiance' to the IS Caliph the group had signed scanned and mailed to their handler.

The group had given itself 'Kunyat' (aliases) for organisational purposes and also assigned tasks among themselves.

Rizwan was coded as 'Abu Hasan' and assigned the job of 'Mahasib' (account keeper), Ibrahim got the name 'Abu Abdur Rahman' who was tasked to be 'Raa'bit' (communcation incharge), Illyas Yazdani was 'Abu Mansoor' and was the religious affairs incharge.

Habeeb Mohammed assumed the alias of 'Abu Shaiba' and was the 'Askari' (in-charge of matters relating to firearms), while Fahad became 'Abu Haleema' and was yet to be assigned any task when they were arrested.

All the five are in the NIA custody for 14 days since June 30. The agency has alleged that the five had acquired weapons and explosive materials to carry out terrorist attacks and were in touch with the banned Islamic State.

They were getting directions for planning and executing terrorist activities from IS, which has captured various towns and cities in Iraq and Syria. The NIA had on June 22 lodged a common FIR against IS for "criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India" by collecting weapons and explosive materials to target public places, religious sites and sensitive government buildings in various parts of country.

According to the Central agency, the gang was preparing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for carrying out blasts, and was being guided by an online handler, suspected to be based in Iraq or Syria.

Besides explosive material, the agency had recovered two semi-automatic pistols, ammunition, an air gun with telescopic sight and shooting practice target boards, a large number of digital gadgets including six laptops, about 40 mobile phones, 32 SIM cards, and a large number of hard disks, memory cards, pen drives and tabs during its searches.

PTI