Haridwar, Delhi were among prime targets for ISIS terror plots: NIA

ISIS India chief Shafi Armar and five others for were chargesheeted for conspiring to carry out attacks during the Ardh Kumbh Mela.

New Delhi:

Six ISIS men charge sheeted by NIA on Monday were working on a terror plot targeting the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Haridwar earlier this year, reports say.

The National Investigation Agency on Monday filed a chargesheet against ISIS India chief Shafi Armar alias Yousuf-Al-Hindi along with five others for conspiring to carry out attacks in Delhi and Uttarakhand.

The charge sheet has been filed against Akhlakur Rehman, Mohammed Azeem-ushan, Mohammad Osama and Mohammad Meraj, all residents of Roorkee in the Haridwar district of Uttarkhand, Mohsin Ibrahim Sayyed, a resident of Malad West in Mumbai and Yusuf-Al-Hindi alias Shafi Armar.

The charge sheet has confirmed that Shafi Armar, who was suspected to be the handler of the recent busted ISIS Hyderabad module, is alive in Syria.

The six men were also tutored by Shafi over social media platforms on how make IEDs out of extracts from matchsticks.

“This gang purchased matchboxes in bulk and extracted the matchstick heads. It was recovered from accused Azeemushan,” NIA alleged.

“The investigation has established that the six accused set up a terrorist gang owing allegiance to the ISIS and as per the direction of their handler Shafi Armar conspired to carry out terrorist acts by assembling and planting IEDs to terrorise the people,” the NIA chargesheet added.

"Incriminating pictures of slain ISIS terrorists...and videos of bomb making...explaining the method of preparing IED with the help of matchsticks and firecrackers...were retrieved from the accused..." it said.

The chargesheet also said that Azeem-ushan and Osama conducted a recce of the Har ki Pauri in Haridwar on Shafi Armar’s instructions.

A book was also retrieved from the mobile phone of accused Akhalqu titled Bomb Banane Ke Asan Tariqa which instructs how to assembly IEDs using explosive material extracted from matchsticks.

Shafi Armar was a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka and is at present working for ISIS in Syria. He has been charge sheeted for criminal conspiracy, unlawful activities and under the Explosive Substances Act. The case was initially registered by the Special Cell of New Delhi on January 18, 2016 and was transferred to National Investigation Agency.

The terrorists were also plotting terror attacks at strategic locations in Delhi, reports said, and a huge cache of inflammatory literature and videos containing hate speeches by Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and other controversial clerics were also recovered from the operatives, the chagesheet revealed.