Maha ISIS module: ATS searches 22 places in Borivali, Padgha villages

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday subjected over 20 people linked with suspected terrorist activities to detailed questioning after conducting searches at 22 places in Mumbai and Thane districts. Those detained for questioning and released later included seven close relatives of Saquib Abdul Hamid Nachan, 63, who was convicted for his role in the 2002-03 serial blasts in Mumbai and is currently in judicial custody for his alleged links with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
'Around 100 police personnel from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai units of the ATS conducted searches at 22 places, in teams of four-five policemen,' said a senior police officer. The searches were initiated based on specific information that people indoctrinated by Nachan had become active, and warrants had been obtained from the court to search premises related to them, the officer said.
The searches commenced late at night on Sunday and continued till Monday afternoon. Apart from Saquib Nachan, searches were conducted at the premises of his close relatives Aaquib Saquib Nachan, Abdul Latif Kaskar, Kaif Nachan and Shajil Nachan. The ATS also searched the residence of Hasib Mulla, who had been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with Saquib Nachan in December 2023 for their suspected links with ISIS.
Around two dozen suspects including seven of Nachan's close relatives were detained for questioning after swords, knives and documents promoting terrorism were found in their homes.
Nachan and Mulla were among 15 persons arrested by the NIA on December 9, 2023, following searches at 44 locations in Maharashtra and Karnataka in a joint operation with the ATS.
The federal agency had claimed that they had found weapons, cash, digital devices and Hamas flags during the searches carried out in Padgha, Thane, Kalyan, Mira Road and Pune and in some places in Bengaluru.
The accused, the agency had said, were operating on directions of their foreign handlers and had been actively involved in various terrorist activities, including fabrication of improvised explosive devices, for furthering the violent and destructive agenda of ISIS.
The searches had led to the recovery of huge caches of unaccounted cash, firearms, sharp edged weapons, documents, smart phones and other digital devices. The seizures included one pistol, two air guns, eight swords/ knives, two laptops, six hard disks, three compact discs, 38 mobile phones, 10 magazine books, ₹68.03 lakh in cash and 51 Hamas flags.
The NIA's probe had revealed that the accused, all members of the ISIS Maharashtra module, were operating from Padgha-Borivali, where they had hatched the conspiracy to spread terror and violence across India. Nachan and other arrested accused had declared the village of Padgha a 'liberated zone' and were motivating impressionable Muslim youth to relocate to the village in rural Thane, the NIA had found.
Nachan, the federal agency had claimed, was the main accused and the self-declared leader of the arrested group and he had assumed the rights of administering 'bayath' (oath of allegiance to the Khalifa of ISIS) to people joining the proscribed organisation.