NIA conducts searches in Kerala, Karnataka and Delhi

Bengaluru: On March 15, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with local police units conducted simultaneous searches at 11 locations including eight locations in Kerala spread over Districts of Kannur, Mallapuram, Kollam and Kasargod, two locations in Bengaluru and one location in Delhi in a case pertaining to terrorist activities of a group led by one Mohammed Ameen alias Abu Yahya who is a resident of Kerala.

"This group have been running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media platforms such as Telegram, Hoop and Instagram for propagating the violent Jihadi ideology of ISIS and radicalizing and recruiting new members to this ISIS module," the NIA stated in the release.

NIA had registered the case against 7 known and other unknown accused persons under sections 120B, 121 & 121A of IPC and sections 17,18, 188, 20, 38 & 40 of UA (P) Act on March 05.

The group of radicalised individuals under the leadership of Ameen owing allegiance to proscribed terrorist organization ISIS had identified certain individuals in Kerala and Karnataka for targeted killing. They had also planned to undertake Hijrat (religious migration) to J&k for engaging in terrorist acts.

Further, Ameen had travelled to J&K immediately after his return to India from Bahrain in March, 2020 and had been camping in Delhi for the last two months for establishing connection with J&K based operatives having allegiance to ISIS.

The NIA searches were conducted at the premises of accused Ameen and his associates who were members of the various groups/channels on encrypted chat platforms. During the searches, several digital devices including laptops, mobiles, hard disk drives, pen drives, multiple SIM cards of different service providers and incriminating documents have been seized. Seized exhibits are being scrutinised and will be sent for forensic examination. Further, investigation in the case will continue.