In its sixth arrest in the Maharashtra ISIS module case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday has taken the custody of Aakif Ateeque Nachan for his involvement in the fabrication and testing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) for the commission of terrorist acts and arranging a hideout for two other terror operatives, an official statement read.
Aakif was found actively involved in the promotion of terror-related activities of the ISIS, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, in collaboration with four other accused, namely Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, and Abdul Kadir Pathan (all recently arrested by ATS Pune), along with some other suspects.
Mohammed Imran Khan and Mohammed Yunus Saki, members of the ‘Sufa Terrorist Gang,’ were absconding and had been declared ‘most wanted’ by the NIA in a case relating to the recovery of explosives from a car in Rajasthan in April 2022.
The NIA nabbed Aakif after a series of raids in Borivali, Tehsil Bhivandi in Thane. Several incriminating materials, such as electronic gadgets and documents, were also seized during the raids.
According to a statement citing NIA investigations, the accused had hatched a conspiracy to further the terrorist activities of ISIS (also known as Islamic State (IS)/Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daish/Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)/ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K)). He had planned to commit terrorist acts to disturb the unity, integrity, security, and sovereignty of the country, and wage a war against the Government of India.
Last month, the NIA had arrested five accused: Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu Nusaiba from Pune, and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Thane, and Adnan Sarkar from Kondhva, Pune. The arrests had followed extensive searches by the NIA in Mumbai, Thane, and Pune.
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