Chennai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today conducted searches at various locations in Tamilnadu as part of its probe into the ‘Ansarulla’ terror module case.
The raids were carried out in Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram district, sources said without divulging further details.
The searches come a day after a special NIA court had granted the probe agency eight-day custody of 16 people arrested for allegedly attempting to set up the terror outfit, ‘Ansarulla’.
The NIA had said the agency needed to take the accused to various places to verify the evidence collected against them during the investigation.
The accused supported the ISIS and Al-Qaeda terror outfits, according to the prosecution in the NIA court.
While 14 accused were arrested after they were deported to India last week by Saudi Arabia for allegedly attempting to set up terror outfit ‘Ansarulla’ in Tamilnadu, two had been picked up from the state last Saturday.
The NIA alleged that they had come together to form a terror group called Ansarulla and the accused had also collected funds and made preparations to carry out terrorist attacks in India, ‘with the intention of establishing Islamic rule in India.’ It further alleged that the group members were exhorting others to carry out lone-wolf attacks using knives, vehicles or even poison.
A case was registered 9 July 2019 (Tamilnadu Ansarulla Case) against Syed Bukhari, a resident of Chennai, and Hassan Ali Yunusmaricar, and Mohammed Yusuffudeen Harish Mohamed, both natives of Nagappattinam, and others.
Various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting to wage war against India, and terror charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been slapped against them. During the searches last week, nine mobile phones, 15 SIM cards, 7 memory cards, 3 laptops, 5 hard discs, 6 pen drives, 2 tablets and 3 CDs/ DVDs besides documents, including magazines, banners, notices, posters and books were seized by the NIA.