The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two fugitives identified as members of a sleeper cell of the banned ISIS terrorist organization. The arrests are linked to a 2023 case involving the fabrication and testing of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Pune, Maharashtra, according to an official statement from the NIA.
“The two men, identified as Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh Diaperwala and Talha Khan, were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at the Mumbai International Airport T2 when they tried to return to India from Jakarta, Indonesia, where they had been hiding out. The NIA team then took them into custody and arrested them,” said the release.
The NIA had earlier announced a cash reward of ₹3 lakh each for information leading to the arrest of the two accused.
Both individuals had been evading arrest for over two years and were the subjects of non-bailable warrants issued by the NIA Special Court in Mumbai.
What is the case about?
The case relates to a criminal conspiracy by these men, along with eight other ISIS Pune sleeper module members already arrested and in judicial custody.
“They had conspired to commit terrorist acts with the aim to disturb India’s peace and communal harmony by waging a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS agenda to establish Islamic rule in the country through violence and terror,” said NIA in an official release.
These two men, already charged with a chargesheet along with the other arrested accused, had been engaged in assembling IEDs from a house rented by Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh in Kondhwa, Pune.
Fugitives participated in bomb-making workshop
During the 2022-2023 period, they also organised and participated in a bomb-making and training workshop, besides carrying out a controlled explosion to test an IED fabricated by them, at these premises, NIA said in a release.
The NIA, which has been actively investigating ISIS-related activities in India to thwart the group’s violent and anti-national terror plots, had earlier filed a chargesheet against all 10 accused in the case. The charges were filed under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UA(P)A), Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In addition to Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh and Talha Khan, who were recently arrested, the other accused in the case include Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, Abdul Kadir Pathan, Simab Nasiruddin Kazi, Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Shamil Nachan, Akif Nachan, and Shahnawaz Alam, said the release.
(This is a developing story)
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