NIA: Nine Al-Qaeda terrorists arrested after raids in West Bengal & Kerala
National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted early morning raids in West Bengal and Kerala to bust the Al-Qaeda terror module and made Nine arrests. The NIA conducted simultaneous raids in West Bengal's Murshidabad and Kerala's Ernakulam, where six arrests were made from Bengal and three from Kerala.
"NIA had learned about an inter-state module of Al-Qaeda operatives at various locations in India, including West-Bengal and Kerala. The group was planning to undertake terrorist attacks at vital installations in India with an aim to kill innocent people and strike terror," an official statement by the probe agency read.
"Large quantity of incriminating materials including digital devices, documents, jihadi literature, sharp weapons, country-made firearms, a locally fabricated body armour, articles and literature used for making home-made explosive devices have been seized from their possession," said the NIA, adding that "these individuals were radicalised by Pakistan-based Al-Qaeda terrorists on social media and were motivated to undertake attacks at multiple places," including Delhi-NCR.
According to the probe agency, the module was "actively indulging in fund-raising and a few members of the gang were planning to travel to Delhi to procure arms and ammunition," as per the initial investigation.
Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas, Mosaraf Hossen, Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal, and Atitur Rehman are the names of terrorists arrested in Saturday morning and will be taken to courts in Bengal and Kerala to seek their police custody.
