A suspected ISIS terrorist who was on the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) most wanted list was apprehended in Delhi as part of the anti-terror agency’s large raid.
Shahnawaz alias Shafi Uzzama was apprehended by the Delhi Police Special Cell from a hideaway in the national capital. The Delhi Police special cell is one of several agencies collaborating with the NIA to disrupt terror networks in multiple states.
Shahnawaz, a professional engineer, was sought in the ISIS Pune module investigation. Shahnawaz is originally from Delhi, according to accounts. He had already been arrested in Pune but escaped. He subsequently went to Delhi and has been hiding there ever since. He is currently being questioned.
The NIA issued a cash reward of 3 lakh for information on Shahnawaz and three other terror suspects earlier this month: Rizwan Abdul Haji Ali, Abdulla Faiyaz Shaikh alias Diaperwala, and Talha Liyakat Khan.
It is claimed that the four were related to an ISIS module in Pune, Maharashtra.
Last month, the anti-terror agency arrested six people in Pune for allegedly encouraging ISIS activities. An ISIS official informed news agency PTI that the Pune module has intentions to disturb the country’s peace and communal harmony.
The NIA had discovered damning data that exposed the ISIS conspiracy at the home of one of the arrested accused, Shamil Saquib Nachan, he had added. Nachan and others had planned to incite mayhem around the country by constructing and detonating improvised explosive devices, according to the anti-terror agency.
According to the NIA, the accused were all members of the ISIS sleeper module. “They had intentions to wage a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS objective to spread terror and violence with the goal of creating an Islamic State in the country,” according to the agency.
