Shahdat is our goal: NIA raids at 10 locations in TN, unearths major evidence

New Delhi, May 21: Shahdat is our goal. This was the name of a chat group formed by a few persons from Tamil Nadu, who had conspired to procure arms for a terror group.

The National Investigation Agency carried out searches at 10 different locations in Tamil Nadu, during which the agency recovered a number of digital devices. The NIA also recovered 3 laptops, 3 hard discs, 16 mobile phones, 8 SIM cards, 2 pen drives, 5 memory cards, a card reader and two knives apart from a large number of incriminating documents.

The case relates to a group of ten persons who had formed a WhatsApp group and together conspired to procure arms for their terrorist group. They had also planned on raising funds to wage an armed struggle and also facilitate the escape of terrorists from jail. They had further planned to propagate their ideology and act against the state.

The NIA is trying to unearth the India link to the Sri Lanka blasts that killed more than 253 persons. The NIA it may be recalled had arrested Riyaz Aboobacker in April and it was revealed that there were sleeper cells operating in Tamil Nadu, which were propagating the ideology of the Islamic State. During his interrogation, he had revealed that he was inspired by the Sri Lanka bombings and had planned on replicating the same in India as well.