n

In a major operation, Jharkhand’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested eight persons in a series of coordinated raids across the state. The raids took place at 16 different locations, including Lohardaga’s Kairo and Hazaribagh’s Pelawal, as well as several other districts. The operation marks a significant success in the state’s ongoing efforts to curb terrorism.
The ATS also recovered a cache of weapons from one of the terrorists apprehended in Lohardaga. Sources said that the eight arrested persons have allegedly been linked to Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The joint raids were carried out by Jharkhand ATS, Special Task Force (STF), Ranchi Police and Delhi Police across 16 locations in Ranchi, Hazaribag and Lohardaga, following a tip-off from central agencies, he said.
“Eight suspects have so far been detained and they are being interrogated. In the operation, some illegal arms, laptops, several mobile phones and suspicious documents have been recovered. Raids are still going on," Jharkhand Police spokesperson and IG (Operations) Amol V Homkar told reporters.
 He said after interrogation of the suspects and verification of documents, further action will be taken as per law.
 "Once the ongoing operation ends, we will share further details," he said. According to the inputs received, the operation was carried out after receiving a tip-off about the presence of sleeper cell agents in the aforementioned areas. Multiple locations linked to the AIQS module in other states such as in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan were also raided by the security agency.
Founded in 2014, AQIS aimed to establish an Islamic state in India along implementing Sharia law by radicalising youths and motivating them for take up arms for the cause of terror outfits. detained by the ATS team were also reported to be involved in furthering similar unlawful activities on behest of the group.
The terrorist group AQIS is reported to be working in close association with Ansar-ul-Bangla, a Bangladesh based terror outfit for crafting/establishing an Islamic state in the Indian Sub-continent. It must be noted that multiple districts of Jharkhand are suspected to have presence of sleeper cells associated with terror outfits a number of whom were also apprehended by the security agencies in the past few years.
The arrest of AQIS terrorists assumes importance as last year, a joint team of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Delhi Police have arrested an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist Faizan Ansari from Jharkhand’s Lohardaga. NIA sources claimed that he was in contact with the ISIS network within and outside the country through the dark net.
Ansari was also said to be in contact with Pakistan’s intelligence agency. Later in the afternoon. A student of Aligarh Muslim University, Ansari was living with his family in Lohardaga for the last two months and was operating from there. He came in contact with the ISIS network while studying at Aligarh Muslim University. 
NIA, along with other agencies, is said to have kept a tab on his activities for the last few weeks.