2 key members of IS module held: NIA

Hyderabad: A FORTNIGHT after it claimed to have busted a Hyderabad-based module of the Islamic State (IS) with the arrest of five suspected operatives, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Tuesday said it has arrested the alleged chief of the module and another key member of the group. Both persons arrested in the pre-dawn raids — Naimathullah Hussaini (alias Yasir, alias Abu Darda), 42, a resident of Moghalpura, who is said to be the chief of the conspiracy group, and Mohammed Ataullah Rehman, 36, of Bandlaguda here — had been arrested on June 29 as well. They were let off subsequently after interrogation, an NIA official said. They were produced before the NIA Special Court Tuesday and remanded in police custody for eight days, the NIA said. On June 29, the NIA had arrested five people and charged them with planning to plant bombs and launch attacks at multiple locations in Hyderabad. In NIA custody since July 2, the five were also produced in NIA court Tuesday. Of them, three were sent to judicial custody, and two — Ibrahim Yazdani and Ilyas Yazdani — remanded in police custody for eight days, the agency said. An NIA statement said Ataullah Rahman was arrested for playing a “key role” in the “conspiracy”. According to NIA, he was involved in radicalising the group members and administered ‘Bayáh’ — the oath of allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi — to the group members. “He participated in several conspiracy meetings, as revealed by the other co-accused arrested,” said the statement. Ataullah is well-educated and well-versed in both English and Arabic, sources said. A postgraduate in English, he teaches English as a trainer for TOEFL. Naimathullah, the agency alleged, played a crucial role in organising meetings for the group and contributed to its corpus fund for terror activities. He was allegedly appointed chief of the group — or ‘emir’ — as he was the eldest in the group, sources said. But “for all practical purposes, Ibrahim (one of those arrested on June 29) held the reins of the group,” an NIA officer said. A cloth merchant who runs a shop near Shadan College, near Khairatabad here, Naimathullah has studied up to Intermediate level, is married and has three children, sources said. Tuesday’s arrests came after another alleged IS sympathiser — one Mohammed Nijamuddin, of Edi Bazaar here — was picked up for interrogation by NIA on July 8. Subsequently let off, he is learnt to have confirmed the information provided to investigators by the five in NIA custody about roles of Naimathullah and Ataullah. The five arrested from different localities of Hyderabad on June 29 are Ibrahim Yazdani (alias Ibbu), Habeeb Mohammed (alias Sir), Ilyas Yazdani, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi, and Muzaffar Hussain Rizwan. According to NIA, Al Amoodi had allegedly procured nine Aircel pre-activated SIM cards from a promotional stall at Charminar bus stop before buying five Chinese-made mobile handsets for use in planning and operations. Ilyas Yazdani had allegedly bought a weighing machine from a shop at Biwi Bazar, near Moghalipura, to weigh explosive precursors and chemicals. Ibrahim Yazdani had used tutanota.com, a secure encryption mail service, to be in touch with his handler abroad, the NIA alleged. This handler, the agency’s officials said, emailed details of places where chemicals, urea, etc were to be delivered.