Sri Lanka bombings: NIA conducts raids at 7 places in Coimbatore to bust ISIS module

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted raids at seven locations in Coimbatore to unearth a new Islamic State module led by one Mohammad Azarudeen, who was a Facebook 'friend' of Sri Lankan bomber Zahran Hashim named behind the Easter Sunday attacks.
NIA had registered a case on May 30 against 32-year-old Azarudeen, who is a resident of Ukkadam; Akram Sindhaa (26), resident of Tirumarai Nagar Phase-II; Y Shiek Hidayathullah (38), resident of south Ukkadam; Abubacker M (29), resident of Kuniyamuthur; Sadham Hussain A (26), resident of Ummar Nagar; Ibrahim @ Shahin Shah (28), resident of south Ukkadam and others based on information received that the accused persons and their associates were propagating ISIS ideology on social media with the intention of recruiting vulnerable youth into the terror group for carrying out terrorist attacks in south India, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Prime accused Azarudeen has been identified as leader of the module and was maintaining a Facebook page named 'KhilafahGFX', through which he allegedly propagated ISIS ideology. He has been a Facebook 'friend' of Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim. Other members of the module, said NIA sources, have also been sharing radical content attributed to Zahran Hashim, over the social media. NIA suspects some members of the module were also in touch with others linked to Easter Sunday bombings at five-star hotels and churches in Sri Lanka.
Accused Ibrahim @ Shahin Shah (A-6) has been a close associate of arrested accused Riyas Abubacker (A-18) in case ISIS Kasaragod case. Abubacker was allegedly in touch with members of the ISIS-Kasaragod module including Abdul Rashid Abdullah, who had earlier migrated to IS-controlled territory in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. During his questioning by NIA following his arrest, Abubacker purportedly disclosed his plans to conduct terrorist attacks in Kerala on behalf of the ISIS.
During the searches at houses and workplaces of the accused persons in the latest Coimbatore module case, digital devices including 14 mobile phones, 29 SIM cards, 10 pen drives, 3 laptops, 6 memory cards, 4 hard disc drives, 1 internet dongle and 13 CDs/ DVDs besides one dagger, one electric baton, 300 air-gun pellets and a large no. of incriminating documents and few PFI/ SDMI pamphlets were seized.
Accused persons are being questioned regarding the incriminating materials seized during the searches. Some arrests may follow soon.