Man Arrested In Meerut For Supplying Arms To Radical Islamist Group Planning To Attack NIA, Delhi Police HQ

A man has been arrested by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in Meerut for allegedly supplying weapons to the suspected Islamic State module which was busted by the agency last week, as reported by Indian Express.

The arrest of 21-year-old Mohammad Nayeem was made late on Thursday evening. He reportedly works as a welder in Gurugram.

During the raid against the Islamic State module on 26 December (Wednesday), the NIA had claimed to have seized a huge stock of arms and explosives which included Ammonium Nitrate, Potassium Nitrate,12 pistols, Sugar material paste, 150 rounds of live ammunition, Sulphur, 51 pipes, a remote control car triggering switch, steel containers, wireless digital doorbell for remote switch electric wires, 91 mobile phones, 134 SIM cards, three laptops, knife, sword, IS-related literature, cash worth Rs 7.5 lakh, 112 alarm clocks one country-made rocket launcher, mobile phone circuits, batteries, 51 pipes.

NIA officials stated that the group had learnt how to assemble bombs etc through online tutorials. A video was also recovered by NIA in which, Mufti Suhail, the 29-year-old Islamic preacher who led the group, is heard explaining intricacies of an IED.

The agency arrested 10 people during its 26 December raid from Delhi’s Jaffarabad and UP’s Amroha for allegedly being part of a group called Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam. The name of the group translates to ‘Movement for Islamic War’.

Interestingly, the arrested members of the radical group, while being interrogated by Delhi police said Delhi Police headquarters was one of the target of the group.

“One of the arrested accused in the case is a distant relative of Nayeem. He asked Nayeem to help the group get some weapons. Nayeem knew some gunrunners from Istanpur, his village in Meerut, and got the group in touch with them,” said an NIA officer.

Amongst the 12 guns recovered, only eight were of ‘good quality’ of which only four are factory-made, and the rest are ‘desi Katta’ an NIA officer said.