Key member in busted IS module in TN was FB friend of Lankan bomber Hashim

The Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday registered a case against six alleged members of an Islamic State module, which was allegedly planning terrorist attacks in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The accused, the agency claims, have connections with Sri Lankan ‘Easter Blasts’ mastermind Zahran Hashim, the New Indian Expres reported.

A key member in the busted module was a Facebook friend of Hashim and had been following his speeches online for the past two years. Interestingly, the conversations between the duo on the social media platform, according to the agency, were in Tamil and not Urdu.

On Wednesday, sleuths from the agency raided seven places in Coimbatore based on an FIR filed recently in Kochi. The officials are understood to have unearthed electronic storage devices and other documents.
“The accused are currently being interrogated. We have also summoned a few other suspects for questioning,” said an official source. NIA says that while it was investigating Indian links to the Lankan blasts, it received information about an IS module in Coimbatore, which was actively recruiting youngsters and planning attacks in TN and Kerala.

Official sources have told Express that the module’s online activities had followers from Sri Lanka and India. It was managing an FB page titled ‘Khilafah GFX’ which was widely followed by IS sympathisers in both countries.

The persons arraigned as accused are: Mohammed Azharuddin, Azharuddin T, Sheik Hidyathullah, Aboobacker M, Sadham Hussain and Ibrahim Shahin.