TN terror module: NIA raids underway at two locations in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is carrying out raids at two locations in Coimbatore since the wee hours of Thursday.

The searches are underway at two places: GM Nagar and Lorry Pettai in Ukkadam.

On getting credible information about the presence of an Islamic State (IS)-inspired module in the city, the sleuths of the NIA from Kochi have bee conducting regular searches.

Based on fresh inputs about a suspected IS-inspired module, the raids have been resumed on Thursday, sources said.

Also, the NIA has registered a case against 6 people for propagating IS ideology through social media.

Earlier in June, the NIA had arrested two IS suspects Muhammed Azarudeen and Sheik Hidayathullah after massive raids in Coimbatore, which was executed after the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka.

In September last year, a Special Investigation Unit of the Coimbatore police had foiled a plot by seven-members of an IS-inspired Islamic group in Tamil Nadu to murder Sampath, Hindu Munnani leader Mookambikai Mani and Sakthi Sena leader Anbu Mari.

According to NIA officials, Tamil Nadu tops the list of Indian states where anti-terror agencies have unearthed modules of Salafi jihadi terrorist organization IS over a period of five years since 2014.

The NIA has claimed to have arrested 127 IS sympathisers from across India since 2014 and 33 were from Tamil Nadu.

(With inputs from online desk)