Chennai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the Islamic State’s Thrissur-based module’s leader Syed Nabeel Ahmed in Chennai. The agency alleged Ahmed was planning to escape abroad via Nepal.
The NIA said Ahmed was on the run shifting from one hideout to another in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Fugitive Tracking Team of the NIA managed to track him and arrested him. The agency said he was preparing to flee India using forged travel documents via Nepal as a transit point.
Incriminating documents seized
NIA’s team was working on the group, following specific inputs for several weeks, before finally zeroing in IS operative in Chennai. The agency said it seized incriminating documents and digital devices from him. Ahmed was wanted as an accused in a case registered by the national agency in Kochi earlier.
The NIA added that in July it had arrested another IS operative Ashif alias Mathilakath Kodayil Ashraf from Sathyamangalam in Erode district. It registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The team then found that the IS’s Thrissur module was planning disruptive and terror acts in Kerala and had also conducted a dry run for the same.
