Updated on Dec 9, at 2.25 p.m.

Six individuals with suspected affiliations with the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), including a couple, were detained from Godhra by the Gujarat ATS on Dec 6 (Wednesday).

The input on their affiliation was provided to the Gujarat ATS team by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Following this, a secret operation was carried out along with teams from the local crime branch and Special Operations Group (SOG) late on Wednesday night.

The detained couple has been identified as Farukh Tasiya, who runs a vehicle repair business in the city, and his wife Tahera, who has a retail business for women’s apparel.

It was revealed to the police that Tahera sold foreign apparel bought from tourists coming from Mecca and Pakistan. Revelations disclosed that she has also travelled to Mecca, Pakistan, Tehran, etc several times.

The couple has used several UPI IDs to make their transactions, which are also currently under the ATS scanner.

As per the information received, all the detained individuals made several transactions from Pakistan and other countries.

The sources of these transactions are also suspected to have been involved in illicit activities.

Updated on Dec 7, 1.20 p.m.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Dec 5 filed a charge sheet against five persons associated with the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), thus unravelling a major conspiracy by the proscribed Afghan terrorist organisation to unleash acts of terror and violence.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Gujarat police had earlier detained four people with alleged links to the proscribed terrorist organisation on June 10 this year, while another operative was arrested from Srinagar on June 11.

NIA’s chargesheet

The NIA official said that as per the probe ISKP, an affiliate of the Islamic State, is active in Khorasan province of Afghanistan and is allegedly behind a meticulously planned conspiracy to promote terror and violence in the troubled nation.

The official said that its probe so far have revealed that the accused, identified as Ubaid Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shawl, Mohammad Hazim Shah, Sumera Banu, and Zubair, had plans to go to Afghanistan illegally via Iran from Porbandar, Gujarat, for training and carry out terrorist acts in Afghanistan but they were arrested by ATS, Gujarat, based on credible inputs.

The ATS had found that the five men were actively involved with the ISKP, the official said.

The official further said that its probe found that the arrested individuals were engaged in activities such as recruitment of Muslim youth to join the violent agenda of the banned terror outfit.

“Their actions were not limited to propagating the agenda and ideology of ISKP on social media but they were actively engaged in motivating, radicalising and indoctrinating vulnerable Muslim youth in India with the extremist ideology of ISKP. They were also collecting funds for the banned terror organisation,” the official said.

The official said that two other accused are absconding in the case and are based in Afghanistan and Iran.

“The two absconders are believed to be key handlers of the arrested individuals,” the official said.

Gujarat ATS busts terror nexus

The identified accused in this case were residents of Saiyedpura area in Surat.

According to the ATS, Ubaid Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shawl, and Mohammad Hajim Shah were allegedly radicalised by their handler, Abu Hamza, and had joined the ISKP.

Acting on specific information, the ATS conducted further operations, which revealed two more individuals - Zubair Ahmed Munshi and Sumerabanu -- as members of the same ISKP module.

A joint raid by the Gujarat ATS and Surat Crime Branch on June 10 at Sumerabanu’s residence led to the recovery of several radical ISKP publications, and material confirming her allegiance to the ISKP leader.

Evidence from the trio’s belongings discovered at Porbandar included personal identity documents, digital communication devices, sharp-edged weapons, and incriminating cloud storage data showing the individuals with ISKP banners and flags.

It also contained videos of the four Kashmiri youth swearing allegiance to the ISKP leader, and documents confirming their commitment to join the Khorasan jihad.

As per the ATS, the suspects were instructed by their handler, Abu Hamza, to take employment as labourers on a fishing boat.

Using this boat, they were to reach a predetermined GPS coordinate to be picked up by a dhow and taken to Iran.

With fake passports, they were to make their way to Khorasan via Herat, Afghanistan, and engage in ISKP’s terror campaign.

Case taken over by NIA

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had transferred the case to NIA on June 28 this year.

On July 1, the anti-terror agency had registered a case under sections of the Unlawful Activities (P) Act, and of IPC based on the FIR earlier filed by ATS Ahmedabad.

(With inputs from IANS)

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