'Bomb lessons sent from Syria': Terrorists from Hyderabad charged for IS links
Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency on Thursday filed a chargesheet in a special court at Nampally against eight persons accused of being members of the ISIS. They have been charged with conspiring to carry out Paris and Brussels-type attacks in the city using triacetone peroxide (TATP).
The eight have been accused of targeting personalities as well as planning to target public places such as the Inorbit Mall, IT companies, and religious sites, using TATP explosives which are very difficult to detect with scanners.
The case was registered on June 20 based on the directions of the Union home ministry. The eight accused were arrested nine days later.
The group called Jund Ul Khilafa Fi Bilad Al Hind (Army of Caliph from South India) has pledged bayáh (allegiance) to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Bagdhadi, according to the NIA.
NIA investigations established that the group communicated via Dark Net through the Tor browser, used encryption applications such as Orbot, Amn Al Mujahid (an encryption programme of the Al Fajr media centre), chat secure, Telegram and encrypted mails like Tutanota.
Bomb lessons sent from Syria
“They deliberately used secure communication and encryption to evade monitoring by law enforcement agencies,” the NIA has alleged in the chargesheet.
The NIA said analysis of electronic devices seized from the accused revealed that they had got radicalised by watching videos of discourses and lectures of radical Islamic preachers such as Anwar Awlaki, Abdul Sami Qasmi, Meraj Rabbani, Tausif Ur Rehman, Jerjees Ansari and Zhakir Nai. They downloaded ISIS propaganda videos and the ISIS magazine Dabiq.
The NIA seized two semi-automatic pistols with ammunition, a rifle with telescopic sight, practice shooting target boards, explosive-making precursor chemicals, digital exhibits and cash amounting to Rs 15 lakh.
The NIA has alleged that chemicals suspected to be urea/ammonium nitrate powder and their mixture with sugar, as well as bottles containing mineral acid, acetone, and hydrogen peroxide, which are precursors for making deadly explosive substances, were found in the possession of the accused. TATP uses acetone and hydrogen peroxide.
The NIA has alleged that the group was guided to prepare the explosives by an online handler identified as Shafi Armar alias Yousuf Al Hind, suspected to be based in Syria.
The NIA has alleged that Ibrahim Yazdani and others visited Ajmer Shareef dargah in the second week of June. Ibrahim had worked in Saudi Arabia before returning to India. Police said the accused were in touch with not only Shafi Armar in Syria but also with others in the Gulf.
The NIA analysed six laptops, about 40 mobile phones, 32 SIM cards, and a large number of hard disks, memory cards, pen drives, and digital tabs, which they have submitted as evidence.
