Coimbatore: Continuing its intensive campaign aimed at countering the Islamic terror stalking the south, particularly Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted dawn-to-dusk raids in at least seven places in and around Coimbatore on Wednesday.
A statement from NIA said the Kovai raids were in connection with a case (RC-02/2019/NIA/KOC) that was registered on May 30 (2019) against Mohammed Azarudeen, aged 32, of Ukkadam; Akram Sindhaa, 26, Podanur Road; Y Sheik Hidayathullah, 38, South Ukkadam; Abubacker M, 29, Kuniyamuthur; Saddam Hussain A, 26, Podanur Main Road; Ibrahim @ Shahin Shah, 28, South Ukkadam-all of Coimbatore-"and others based on information received that the accused persons and their associates were propagating the ideology of the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS/ Daish on social media with the intention of recruiting vulnerable youth into the ISIS/ Daish for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu".
The NIA said prime accused Mohd Azarudeen "has been the leader of the module and has been maintaining the Facebook page named 'KhilafahGFX' through which he had been propagating the ideology of ISIS/ Daish...and has been a FB friend of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim". Ibrahim @ Shahin Shah has been a close associate of Riyas Abubacker nabbed in connection with planned terror attacks in Kasargod, Kerala. Digital devices were seized during the Kovai raids, including 14 mobile phones, 29 SIM cards, ten pen-drives, three laptops, six memory cards, four hard disc drives, one internet dongle and 13 CDs/DVDs besides one dagger, one electric baton, 300 air-gun pellets and "a large number of incriminating documents and few PFI/SDPI pamphlets have been seized from the houses and work-places of the accused persons", said the NIA statement, adding that the arrested men were being "questioned regarding the incriminating materials seized".
