NIA arrests Mohammed Azarudeen, ‘mastermind’ of ISIS Tamil Nadu module: Officials

The NIA on Wednesday arrested Mohammed Azarudeen, the alleged ‘mastermind’ of the ISIS Tamil Nadu module, after carrying out searches at seven locations Coimbatore. The agency had detained six other people for questioning. The National Investigation Agency said it had registered cases on May 30 against the six people following information that they were allegedly propagating the ideology of terrorist organisation ISIS/Daish on social media.

During the searches, digital devices including 14 mobile phones, 29 SIM cards, pen drives, laptops, memory cards and hard disc drives, besides one dagger, one electric baton and 300 air-gun pellets were seized, a release from NIA said.

Also, a large number of incriminating documents and a few Popular Front of India/Social Democratic Party of India pamphlets were seized from the houses and work places of the six accused during the searches, it said.

"The accused persons are being questioned regarding the incriminating materials seized during the searches," the release said.

The NIA had registered cases on May 30 against Mohammed Azarudeen, Akram Sindhaa, Y Shiek Hidayathullah, Abubacker M, Sadham Hussain A and Ibrahim @ Shahin Shah, all hailing from the city based on information received that the accused and their associates were propagating the ideology of proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS/Daish on social media.

Their intention was to recruit vulnerable youth into the ISIS/Daish for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the release said.

The prime accused Mohammed Azarudeen was the leader of the module and been maintaining the Facebook page named 'KhilafahGFX', through which he had been propagating the ideology of ISIS/Daish, it said.

Azarudeen has been a Facebook friend of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim and other members of the module have also been sharing radical contents attributed to Hashim, over the social media.

Ibrahim @ Shahin Shah has been a close associate of arrested accused Riyas Abubacker in an ISIS Kasaragod case, who had planned to conduct terrorist attacks in Kerala, on behalf of the ISIS/Daish, the release said.

The IS had claimed responsibility for the serial bombings in Sri Lanka on April 21 in which around nine suicide bombers were involved.