NIA nabs two ISIS fugitives at Mumbai airport

Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh and Talha Khan

Mumbai: In a breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has nabbed two fugitive members of a sleeper cell of the dreaded ISIS terror group, in a 2023 case pertaining to fabrication and testing of IEDs in Pune, an official said on Saturday.

They are identified as – Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh alias Diaperwala, and Talha Khan, members of a ISIS sleeper module Al-Sufa – and carried a bounty of Rs 3-Lakh each on their heads.

They had fled the country in 2022 along with their families to Oman from where they travelled to Indonesia where they lay low for over two years.

Later on Saturday, they were produced before a NIA Special Court which remanded them to 10 days’ NIA remand, said officials.

The tip-off

Based on a tip-off, the duo was intercepted by a team of the Bureau of Immigration at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) T2, upon return to India from Jakarta early today.

The NIA stepped in, took charge and arrested them, and both had non-bailable arrest warrants issued against them by NIA Special Court in Mumbai.

The case (RC-05/2023/NIA/MUM) concerns a criminal plot hatched by Shaikh and Khan along with eight other ISIS Pune sleeper module members – who were arrested in the past and are currently in judicial custody.

As per NIA, they had conspired to commit terrorist acts intended to disturb the peace and communal harmony, to wage a war against the Government of India to push the ISIS agenda of establishing ‘Islamic rule in the country’ through violence and terror.

Assembling IEDs

The two accused had been engaged in assembling IEDs at a house rented by Shaikh in Kondhwa, Pune, and have also been charge-sheeted along with the other arrested accused, said the NIA.

During 2022-2023, they had organised and participated in a bomb-making and training workshop, besides carrying out a controlled explosion to test an IED fabricated by them, at their premises.

The NIA has been actively monitoring and investigating the activities of ISIS in India in a bid to foil its violent and nefarious anti-India terrorist plans.

Soon after this case was detected in 2022-2023, the NIA had arrested and charge-sheeted all the 10 accused in the case under various sections of UAPA, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and IPC, and further investigations are underway, said the agency.

Besides the arrested duo, their other associates cooling heels in jail are identified as: Mohammed Imran Khan, M. Yunus Saki, Abdul Kadir Pathan, Simab Nasiruddin Kazi, Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Shamil Nachan, Akif Nachan and Shahnawaz Alam.

Two of them, Shamil and Akif had participated in workshops, carried raw materials for making the explosive devices and stayed at Shaikh’s Kondhwa home