NIA busts ‘ISIS-inspired’ ring; 10 arrested in Delhi, UP raids

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday claimed to have busted a suspected ISIS-inspired terror module and arrested 10 suspects, who were allegedly planning suicide attacks and serial blasts targeting politicians and government installations in New Delhi and other parts of northern India.

A locally-made rocket launcher, material for suicide vests and 100 alarm clocks to be used as timers were recovered from the searches across 17 locations in Delhi and Meerut, Amroha and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, said National Investigation Agency inspector-general Alok Mittal. The searches and arrests, including a “mufti” from Amroha, come a month before the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, when security is heightened across India, and particularly in the national capital.

Talking to reporters here, Mr Mittal said: “Following the searches, the probe agency rounded up 16 persons of the group ‘Harkat ul Harb e Islam’, which loosely translates into ‘war for the cause of Islam’.” Of the 16, 10 were arrested by the NIA while six are still being interrogated. More arrests are likely, Mr Mittal said. Five of them were arrested from Amroha and five from Seelampur and Jafrabad localities in northeast Delhi, he added.

The NIA further said that the “highly-radicalised module” was completely self-funded and no criminal antecedents of its members had surfaced so far. “The members were in an advanced stage of preparation. They were just waiting for the successful assembly of bombs and wanted to hit multiple locations using remote controlled IEDs, fidayeen attacks using suicide vests and pipe bombs,” Mr Mittal told reporters. Those arrested include the alleged mastermind, 29-year Mohammed Sohail, a “mufti”, or a Muslim legal expert empowered to give rulings on religious matters, from Amroha in western UP, an engineering student at a private university in Noida and a third-year humanities student as well as two welders, he said. He added that the NIA had found a video where Sohail was demonstrating how to complete a bomb circuit.

During the searches, the NIA recovered a huge cache of handmade weapons, including a yet-to-be-tested rocket launcher, material for suicide vests, 12 locally-made pistols, hundreds of live rounds of bullets, 100 mobiles and 135 SIM cards, he disclosed. The agency also recovered `7.5 lakhs in cash, 100 alarm clocks to be used as timer devices for bombs and 25 kg of bomb-making ingredients — potassium nitrate, potassium chlorate, sugar paste and sulphur. Giving details of the initial investigation, Mr Mittal said the suspects had done a reconnaissance of vital government installations and had planned to target political personalities and other important persons.

Reacting to the NIA’s action, the BJP claimed that the Narendra Modi government had “delivered” on its promise of zero tolerance against terrorism, asserting that India was largely free from any terror incident targeting civilians during its tenure. BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimhra Rao said: “Zero tolerance against terrorism is a promise delivered by the Narendra Modi-led government”. Mr Rao claimed that in the Congress-led UPA government’s tenure there were “frequent” terror attacks in cities and the civilian population would be gripped with fear before every major festival/event.