The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested nine alleged Al-Qaeda terrorists on Saturday, September morning. The arrests were made following multiple raids in West Bengal's Murshidabad and Kerala's Ernakulam.
"NIA had learnt 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 agency read.
The arrested persons were identified as Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas, Mosaraf Hossen, Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman.
While six alleged terrorists were arrested from Bengal, three of them were arrested from Kerala in the early morning raids.
"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," the statement read.
NIA said that these individuals were radicalised by Pakistan-based Al-Qaeda terrorists on social media and were motivated to undertake attacks at multiple places including the National Capital Region.
“For this purpose, the module was actively indulging in fundraising 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,” NIA added.
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