In a big development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two absconders allegedly part of a sleeper cell of terrorist outfit ISIS from Mumbai airport, PTI reported.
Citing officials PTI reported that the duo were wanted in a 2023 case related to fabrication and testing of IEDs in Pune, Maharashtra.
Who are the accused?
The NIA has identified the accused as Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh alias Diaperwala and Talha Khan, were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at the Mumbai International Airport Terminal 2 last night when they tried to return to India from Jakarta, Indonesia, where they had been hiding.
The NIA team took custody of the duo and arrested them, according to an agency statement.
Both of the accused have been on the run for more than two years and also had non-bailable warrants issued against them by the NIA Special Court, Mumbai.
The agency had also declared a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh each for information about the two accused.
"The case relates to a criminal conspiracy by these men, along with eight other Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Pune sleeper cell members already arrested and in judicial custody," the statement said.
"They had conspired to commit terrorist acts with the aim to disturb India's peace and communal harmony by waging a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS agenda to establish Islamic rule in the country through violence and terror," it said.
The accused are already already chargesheeted along with the other arrested accused, were allegedly involved in assembling IEDs from a house rented by Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh in Kondhwa, Pune.
"During the 2022-2023 period, they had also organised and participated in a bomb-making and training workshop, besides carrying out a controlled explosion to test an IED fabricated by them, at these premises," it said.
The probe agency said that besides Abdullah Fayaz Sheikh and Talha Khan, others arrested in the case have been identified as Mohammad Imran Khan, Mohammad Yunus Saqi, Abdul Qadir Pathan, Simab Nasiruddin Qazi, Zulfiqar Ali Barodawala, Shamil Nachan, Aqif Nachan and Shahnawaz Alam.
(With Agency Inputs)
