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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Devesh K Pandey

NIA conducts searches across six States, arrests one alleged ISIS operative

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has raided nine locations across six States on Thursday and arrested one person in connection with the ISIS Jharkhand module case for his alleged role in the conspiracy to spread terror in the region.

Rahul Sen aka Omar Bahadur (23) was arrested from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. The agency has also seized electronic and digital devices, one knife, a veil and several ISIS related documents.

The case pertains to the ISIS module that was exposed with the arrest of an Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student in July this year. During his stay near the university campus, the student named Faizan Ansari (19) had come in contact with radicalised individuals linked to the ISIS, said the agency on Friday.

The searches were carried out in Ratlam, Siwan (Bihar); Jaunpur, Azamgarh and Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh; Ludhiana in Punjab, South Goa; Yadgir in Karnataka; and Mumbai in Maharashtra.

According to the NIA, Mr. Bahadur was involved in dissemination of ISIS propaganda through social media platforms for radicalisation and recruitment of gullible youth for carrying out various terror related activities.

The agency had registered the case on July 19 and the next day, arrested Faizan Ansari for allegedly being part of the Jharkhand terror module conspiracy along with his associates and unknown others. It was aimed at unleashing violent terror attacks in India on behalf of the ISIS and recruiting youngsters to work for the banned outfit, said the NIA.

As alleged, Mr. Ansari had also propagated ideological videos of ISIS. “He was in the process of radicalising neo-converts and bringing them into the terrorist fold to expand the ISIS cadre and footprint in India. Further, he was in contact with foreign-based ISIS handlers, who were guiding him in spreading the ISIS ideology. He had also contemplated doing Hijrat (migration) to a foreign ISIS conflict theatre after completing his task in India,” the NIA said.

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