A software engineer and his brother were among five men arrested in Hyderabad by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday for allegedly having allegiance to ISIS terror group and for plotting attacks in India, news reports said.
The raid carried out in the Charminar area helped uncover the suspected cell and their plans to carry out chain of terror attacks in the country.
Among the arrested were brothers, techie Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani (30), and his younger sibling graduate Mohammad Illyas Yazdani (24). The five men were arrested after a total of 11 people were rounded up for questioning by the investigative agency.
Habib Mohammed (32) Mohammed Irfan (27) and Abdullah- Bin-Amoodi (31) were also arrested on suspicion for being part of the ISIS.
The techie, suspected to be the leader of the cell that has strong links to the ISIS, officials told NDTV. He however said that the cell was independent of the previous bases set up in India.
The investigators recovered weapons, nitrate-based explosives used to make several improvised explosive devices, 25 mobile phones, laptops, a pen drive, sim cards and Rs. 15 lakh in cash.
"The strikes were necessary because the module had received money, procured weapons to carry out strikes," a security officer told NDTV.
The third such crackdown on suspected ISIS sympathisers within the span of a year has come after reports of a plan to carry out multiple terror attacks in Hyderabad.
The men, radicalised over the internet, were recruited and directed by ISIS operators, an officer told NDTV.
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