MUMBAI/LUCKNOW -- Three suspected terrorists belonging to the ISIS Khorasan module were on Thursday arrested for allegedly plotting a major strike while six persons were detained in a joint operation by police teams of five states.
Raids were carried out this morning in Mumbra (Maharashtra), Jalandhar (Punjab), Narkatiaganj (Bihar), Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar (both in Uttar Pradesh) in a joint operation of the Delhi special cell, the ATS of UP and Maharashtra, and the police of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar, an official said.
UP ATS IG Aseem Arun, in a statement in Noida, said that three persons were arrested on charges of hatching terror conspiracies.
He said that the accused, associated with the ISIS Khorasan module, were planning to launch a major terror attack in the country.
Mufti Faizan and Tanveer, who are connected with ISIS, were arrested from Bijnor district. Nazim Shamshad Ahmed (26), who hails from Bijnor was nabbed from Mumbra township in Thane district adjoining Mumbai, and Muzammil was apprehended from Jalandhar district.
Arun said six persons have been taken into custody and they are being questioned.
He said the three accused will be produced in a Noida court where the ATS will seek their transit remand to take them to Lucknow. He said important documents relating to ISIS were seized from them.
The accused had got in touch with each other over the internet, he said, adding that central security agencies played an important role in the operation.
According to the IG, the ATS had seized some important documents after the March 7 encounter in Lucknow in which a suspected terrorist belonging to the Khorasan module was killed. Following this, the probe was expanded to five states.
The ATS had received information that the ISIS was expanding its network in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, Punjab and Bihar and some youths from these areas had joined the terror organisation.
"All those arrested are in the age group of 18 to 25 years and were living in different places like Mumbai, Jalandhar and UP. We have also found that they were definitely influenced by the material available on the internet," UP ADG (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said in Lucknow said.
Investigations show that one of them wanted to finance the group and they were continuously communicating with each other about carrying out some major strike in the near future. But police and other agencies of different states with the help of surveillance made the arrests before they could carry out any such attack, the ADG said.
The UP ATS spokesperson said those arrested were suspected to be looking for potential recruits in Bihar, UP and Maharashtra.
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:
