National Investigation Agency arrests two Hyderabad youths over suspicion of links with Islamic State

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Sunday arrested two alleged Islamic State sympathisers from Hyderabad as part of its larger probe into Indian youngsters being radicalised to carry out terror strikes on behalf of the banned international outfit. A force spokesperson said they have arrested Hyderabad-based Mohammed Abdullah Basith (24) and Mohd Abdul Qhadeer (19) to “ascertain the details of the ongoing conspiracy and also their role in furthering the Islamic State ideology to carry out terrorist acts in India”. The NIA is probing a case since 2016 where it is alleged that the members of Islamic State “were involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train Indian Muslim youth on behalf of the proscribed outfit Islamic Stae to carry out terror activities.” [caption id=“attachment_3752127” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] Two accused arrested by the NIA in this case earlier have been sent to seven years in jail after they pleaded guilty of the charges while trial against Adnan Hassan is ongoing. “During further investigation, a fresh input was received from reliable sources that Basith, who was connected with accused Adnan Hassan and some of his associates are in regular touch with each other and conspiring to further the activities of Islamic State, a proscribed terrorist organisation in India,” an NIA spokesperson said. “The central agency subsequently conducted raids at seven locations in Hyderabad on 6 August as part of these fresh leads,” he said. According to him, lot of incriminating material was recovered and seized and it has been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) Hyderabad for analysis and data extraction. “The initial questioning/interviewing done so far has brought out the involvement of accused Abdullah Basith, Mohd Abdul Qhadeer and other associates pledging their allegiance to the proscribed terrorist organization Islamic State to carry out terror activities in India,” the spokesperson said.