Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at several places in Hyderabad on Tuesday following a tip off about suspicious terror-related activities here.
According to initial reports, a full-fledged ISIS terror module was also busted after the multiple raids by the NIA officials at the old quarters of the IT-city..
At least ten alleged ISIS agents have also been detained by the NIA sleuths. They are being interrogated for more leads at the moment.
The arrests were made from houses in Chandrayangutta, Mirchowk, Talabkatta, Bhavaninagar and Mogalpura, said TV reports.
A large cache of weapons, explosives and cash has also been seized in the raids. The module is believed to be involved in recruiting ISIS inclined youths to work as Jihadis for the Iraq and syria based global terror outfit.
The members of the module were under watch for over four months after which the NIA decided to raid their hideouts here.
ANI quoted NIA sources as saying that popular public spots and religious places were their main targets. The detained ISIS sympathisers were in direct touch with their suspected handler in Syria, the NIA sources further said.
NIA had credible information that five of the 11 people detained were involved in terrorist activities. An FIR was also registered against them on June 22, the sources said. Those five people have been identified as Mohd Illiyas Yazdani, Mohd. Ibrahim, Habib Mohd, Mohd Irfan, Abdullah Bin Ahmad.
The raids come at a time when parts of the city are under prohibitory orders because of a strike by lawyers that has been on for over three weeks.
At the start of this year, 14 people suspected to be sympathisers of the ISIS were picked up from across the country in an anti-terror operation by the NIA.
