On Friday, 11th August 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) published a press release to share crucial updates on the Pune ISIS module case. According to this press release, the agency has arrested one Shamil Nachan of Thane for the fabrication of improvised explosive devices in this case. The total number of arrests in the Pune ISIS module case till now has reached 6.
The NIA said in its press release, “Making another breakthrough in the Pune ISIS module case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested another accused for active involvement in promoting terrorist activities of the designated foreign terrorist organisation. This is the sixth arrest by the NIA in the case.”
Providing the details of the arrested accused, the press release further said, “The accused, Shamil Saquib Nachan son of Saquib Nachan resident of Padgha, Thane, was found involved in the fabrication, training and testing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) for the commission of terrorist acts. He had been working in collaboration with five other accused, identified as Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, Simab Nasiruddin Kazi and Abdul Kadir Pathan, along with some other suspects.”
The agency further said, “Two of the accused, namely Imran Khan and Mohammed Yunus Saki, were members of the ‘Sufa terrorist gang’ and were absconding. NIA had declared them ‘most wanted’ in a case relating to the recovery of explosives from a car in Rajasthan in April 2022. These members of an ISIS sleeper module, including Shamil, were operating from a house in Kondhwa, Pune, where they had assembled IEDS and also organised and participated in Bomb training and making Workshop last year. They had also carried out a controlled explosion at this location to test an IED fabricated by them.”
NIA ARRESTS 6TH ACCUSED INVOLVED IN FABRICATION OF IEDs IN PUNE ISIS MODULE CASE pic.twitter.com/9MbJJgJaBb
— NIA India (@NIA_India) August 11, 2023
Recalling the background and investigations of the case further, the NIA said in its press release, “Investigations by the NIA into the ISIS Pune module case on 3rd August 2023, have shown that the accused had plans to commit terrorist acts with the aim to disturb peace and communal harmony of the country. They had planned to wage a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS agenda.”
It concluded by saying, “ISIS, also known as Islamic State (IS)/Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL)/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daish/ Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)/ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K)), has been working on its anti-India agenda by spreading terror across the country through violent acts. The NIA has been carrying out extensive investigations to foil the terrorist outfit’s plans to spread terror and violence in India.”
Notably, on Saturday, August 5, a Pune court sent five accused of running an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) module in Pune to Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) custody till August 11. In a statement in the court, ATS said they found incriminating material from the accused, including an Indian map with several cities marked, laptops containing material to study the modus operandi of terror attacks and more.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested several terrorists in connection to the case on 3rd July. Four operatives arrested by the agency were identified as Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias Abu Nusaiba from Pune, and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Thane.
Later, on 18th July, Pune ATS arrested Khan and Saki for their association with the terrorist organisation Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) offshoot SUFA. They were arrested from Kondhwa and were wanted by NIA in the terror module case. Furthermore, ATS also arrested Simab Nasaruddin Qazi for helping another accused, Shahanawaaz Alam, who is currently absconding. ATS took Zulfikar into its custody from NIA from Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.
