The National Investigation Agency, which is investigating the Coimbatore bomb blast case, stated that they will investigate the accused persons’ foreign links. According to India’s counter-terrorist task force, the incident does not appear to be a one-off module designed to carry out a terror attack. It bears all the hallmarks of a module that has received funding from a variety of sources, reports Oneindia.
The federal agency said that it is suspected that one of the accused Feroz Ismail has foreign links and whether there is any connection to the current case would be explored in detail.
Reportedly, the agency would be taking accused Mohammed Thalka, Mohammed Azarudeen, Mohammed Riyaz, Feroz Ismail, Mohammed Nawaz Ismail and Afsar Khan into their custody shortly. Their questioning would be crucial for further leads into the case.
An official privy to the case said that the agency was also keeping a close watch on the funding that was received by the deceased Jamesha Mubin. While the initial findings suggested that Mubin was self-radicalised, the NIA would look into the larger conspiracy considering the amount of money that was spent on procuring such a huge quantity of explosives.
Notably, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officially commenced the probe into a cylinder explosion in a car in which one person was killed in front of a temple in the city on October 23 on Sunday.
NIA probing the Coimbatore blast case recovers bomb-making material, Jihadi literature
According to the charge sheet filed by the NIA, over a hundred incriminating items have been recovered from the residence of Jamesha Mubin, the man who died in the blast in the car. It is notable that earlier it was thought to be a simple cylinder blast case, but later terror angle emerged in the incident, after which the case was handed over to the NIA.
The NIA team searched the Mubin’s premises and seized 109 articles, including potassium nitrate, black powder, matchbox, cracker fuse length of about 2 meters, Nitro Glycerin, red phosphorous, PETN powder, Aluminium powder, OXY 99 Breathe pure Oxygen cylinder, Sulphur powder, Sterile Surgical blade, and other bomb-making materials, as well as notebooks with information on Islamic ideology and Jihad.
According to media reports, Mubeen was also in contact with Sri Lankan Islamic cleric Zahran Hashim on Facebook, the mastermind of the Easter bombing in Sri Lanka in 2019. NIA had questioned him at that time regarding the issue. The police also stated that Jamesha Mubeen was a close friend of Muhammed Azharuddin, who is currently in a Kerala jail in connection with the IS case.
Reportedly NIA is also looking into the possible link of C.A.Rauf, the Kerala state secretary of banned group Popular Front of India (PFI), with Mubin. Rauf was in hiding since PFI was banned, and he was arrested by the NIA from his residence in Pattambi in Kerala on Thursday night.
Mohammad Thalka, another accused in the case, is the son of Nawab Khan, who is the brother of Syed Ahmed Basha, founder of the banned group Al Ummah. This group was behind the 1998 Coimbatore bombings that claimed 58 lives.
Afsar Khan, the sixth accused arrested in the Coimbatore blast case, is reportedly Mubeen’s cousin. He appeared in Judicial Magistrate Court yesterday and was sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody. Police and the NIA are operating to uncover a larger conspiracy that may have interstate or international connections.
