The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday made significant seizures in connection with the conspiracy by the terror groups Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Tehrik-e-Taliban to recruit and radicalise impressionable youth in India in order to spread terror in the country.
The agency said the seizures were made during multiple raids across four States -- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “A host of incriminating digital devices were recovered during the searches at three locations in Maharashtra and one location each in the other three States,” the NIA said in a statement.
The NIA is examining the devices to track those involved in the conspiracy and thwart their efforts to destabilise the country through the unlawful and radicalisation plans and campaigns of the two terror outfits, it said.
The raids were part of the NIA investigations in a case registered in April 2023 against two accused recruited earlier by these banned organisations. The two suspects were involved in a series of disruptive terror-linked activities, including transfer of funds abroad for purchase of land in Afghanistan.
NIA investigations have revealed that the duo was also involved in radicalisation of vulnerable and susceptible youth and their recruitment to the two outfits to further the activities of their terror fronts active in India. The entire conspiracy was aimed at spreading terror in India and disrupting its peace and communal harmony, the NIA further said.
While AQIS is a militant organisation striving to establish an Islamic state and an Islamic Caliphate in the Indian Subcontinent, Teherik-e-Taliban is an umbrella organisation of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border.