NIA busts Kerala-based IS module, arrests AMU student with terror ties

The NIA has busted a Kerala-based Islamic State module that was allegedly planning terror attacks at different places of worship as well as on leaders of certain communities in the state. The module had been conducting reconnaissance missions at potential targets, it said.

In another operation, the NIA also arrested an Aligarh Muslim University student hailing from Lohardagga, Jharkhand for being in touch with foreign-based IS handlers on social media, radicalising and recruiting other vulnerable neo-converts, planning violent actions and contemplating doing a ‘hijrat’ (holy journey) to an IS conflict theatre abroad.
The Kerala IS module was busted on Wednesday with the arrest of the accused Ashif, carrying the alias Mathilakath Kodayil Ashraf, from a hideout in Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu. This was followed by raids by NIA and Kerala ATS at three locations in Thrissur and one in Palakkad on Thursday. The searches — covering the houses of Ashif, as well as three others led to the recovery of digital devices and incriminating documents, said the NIA.
On the Ranchi IS case, NIA said Faizan and his associates had pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State and were actively in the process of radicalising neo-conversts and attracting them to the terrorist fold for enriching the cadre base of IS in India.