The NIA, which has arrested 34 IS recruits till now, is also studying recent speeches of controversial preachers whose names have figured during interrogation of the arrested people. Apart from Naik, other known names whose speeches have figured in the interrogation of terrorists include UKbased Anjem Choudhury, Delhibased Abdus Sami Qasmi, Bengalurubased Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi and young propagandist Mehdi Biswas, also from Bengaluru. Sami Qasmi and Anzar Shah Qasmi have been arrested.According to sources, Delhi Police had recovered Naik's speeches from the laptops of IM terrorists after the Batla House encounter. In fact, IM's Pakistan based operatives Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal are believed to have listened to Naik's speeches. "The jihadi literature recovered from Indian Mujahideen, AQIS and IS members in the last 910 years had speeches of various Islamic clerics," a top counterterror official said. Read less...
According to sources, Delhi Police had recovered Naik's speeches from the laptops of IM terrorists after the Batla House encounter. In fact, IM's Pakistan based operatives Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal are believed to have listened to Naik's speeches. "The jihadi literature recovered from Indian Mujahideen, AQIS and IS members in the last 910 years had speeches of various Islamic clerics," a top counterterror official said. Read less...
Security agencies have stumbled upon a large amount of money transacted into the bank account of Mohammad Tausif Amhed, Popular Front of India (PFI) activist from Qatar and some other Arab nations which they believe might be hawala (illegal money transaction) money being pushed into Bihar for helping antinationals, The Times of India reports on July 20. Tausif, was arrested on July 15 for raising proPakistan slogans here. "Initial investigations suggest that Tausif has links with terror group Indian Mujahideen," said an official, adding that National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths reached Bihar on July 20 to interrogate the arrested PFI activist. A senior NIA official said PFI is another face of banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Read less...
Three suspected members of an outfit called the Base Movement, which is linked to five blasts in courts in South India since April 2016, were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Madurai District on November 28, reports Indian Express. In the last 24 hours, in a joint operation with TamilNadu Police and Telangana Police, the NIA has apprehended four youths for their involvement in blasts at …court complexes in South India. During sustained examination, they have confessed their involvement in these blasts,” said a statement released by the NIA. The three who have been arrested were identified as Abbas Ali (27), Suleiman Mohd Abdullah (23) and Samsun Karim Raja. The NIA said the fourth person, Mohammed Ayub Ali (25), was being questioned. “Three have been arrested in Madurai. Two more are being tracked even as one suspect is being questioned,” said an unnamed officer. According to the NIA, the group was led by Abdullah, who is from Madurai but lives in Chennai. Raja and Abbas Ali are also from Madurai.
The Base Movement was linked to the five court blasts in Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh) on April 7, Kollam (Kerala) on June 15, Mysuru (Karnataka) on August 1, Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) on September 12 and Malappuram (Kerala) on November 2 — following messages from the group claiming credit. Computer printouts of messages from the ‘Base Movement’ were found at the blast sites in Malappuram and Nellore. Pen drives found at both sites contained messages with a picture of Osama bin Laden and a map of India. The messages claimed that the blasts were being carried out in retaliation for alleged injustices to members of the Muslim community. The outfit also sent a mail to authorities claiming credit for the Chittoor court blast. “Almost all the bombs, from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh to Malappuram in Kerala, have been found to be assembled by someone well-trained in bomb-making. Except for one bomb which was packed in a pressure cooker, all other bombs were relatively less lethal as they had no shrapnel. The organisation also deliberately left pen drives and leaflets at blast sites. It seems they were trying to make a statement. But things will be more clear now after interrogating the three arrested from Madurai,” said an unnamed officer.
The term ‘Base Movement’ is suspected to be a reference to the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) formed in August 2014, with the official name of Jamaat Qaidat al-jihad fi’shibhi al-qarrat al-Hindiya or Organisation of the Base of Jihad in the Indian Sub-Continent’’. “Investigations indicate that the ‘Base Movement’ is inspired by Al Qaeda but probably has no links with it. In the pen drives that it left at some blast sites and the letters sent to authorities, there is mention of Al Qaeda and pictures of bin Laden, but no mention of the Islamic State or any other terror organisation,” said an unnamed intelligence officer. Sources said it appears that the group is self-funded and self-motivated. “It doesn’t appear to be a Pakistan-supported group as such groups always aim for mass casualty,” the officer said. Before the court blasts, a two-line letter announcing the launch of the ‘Base Movement’ was sent by post to the office of an additional chief secretary to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in January 2015. The sender’s address was given as Kovai (Coimbatore) in Tamil Nadu. Investigations later revealed that the letter was sent from Ukkadam in Coimbatore. A similar letter with the same characteristics — a picture of bin Laden and map of India — made its appearance in January 2016, ahead of a visit to India by French President Francois Hollande. The French consulate in Bengaluru received the letter that seemed to warn against Hollande’s visit. The letter was tracked to a post office in Chennai.