The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has seized digital devices during searches conducted in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu in connection with an alleged conspiracy by Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Tehrik-e-Taliban to recruit and radicalise impressionable youths in India, said the agency on Friday.
“A host of incriminating digital devices were recovered during searches at three locations in Maharashtra and one location each in the other three States. The NIA is examining the devices to track those involved in the conspiracy and thwart their efforts to destabilise the country through the unlawful radicalisation plans and campaigns of the two terror outfits,” it said.
The raids were conducted as part of the NIA probe in a case registered in April 2023 against two accused persons recruited earlier by the two banned outfits. They were involved in a series of terror-linked activities, including transfer of funds abroad for purchase of land in Afghanistan. The two were also involved in the radicalisation of youths and their recruitment to the outfits.
Alleging that the entire conspiracy was aimed at spreading terror in India and disrupting its peace and communal harmony, the NIA said: “While AQIS is a militant organisation striving to establish an Islamic State and an Islamic caliphate in the Indian Subcontinent, Tehrik-e-Taliban is an umbrella organisation of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan-Pakistan border.”
