Special court sends six alleged Al-Qaeda terrorists to four-day NIA custody
Sep 22, 2020
New Delhi [India], September 22 : A special NIA court on Tuesday sent six alleged Al-Qaeda terrorists, who were recently arrested from West Bengal and Kerala, to four-day custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Special NIA Judge Praveen Singh sent the six accused to the NIA custody after hearing the submissions in the matter. Notably, three other suspected terrorists were sent to the NIA custody on Monday by a Delhi court.
According to the NIA, it had conducted simultaneous raids at several locations at Ernakulam in Kerala and West Bengal's Murshidabad and arrested nine terrorists associated with a Pakistan-sponsored module of the Al-Qaeda, a terrorist group.
The nine arrested accused have been identified as Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas, Mosaraf Hossen, all residents of Ernakulam, and Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman, all residents of Murshidabad.
The agency had earlier said that the nine alleged terrorists were part of an inter-state module of the Al-Qaeda operating at various locations across 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 in their minds, the NIA had said.
It said that it has recently arrested six terrorists from West Bengal and three terrorists from Kerala during raids and recovered a large number 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.
"As per the preliminary investigation, these individuals were radicalized by Pakistan-based Al-Qaeda terrorists on social media and were motivated to undertake attacks at multiple places including the national capital region," the NIA had said.
"For this purpose, the module was actively indulging in fund-raising and a few members of the gang were planning to travel to New Delhi to procure arms and ammunition. These arrests have pre-empted possible terrorist attacks in various parts of the country," it added.
