ATS drops a bomb about 4 IS men

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in its recent chargesheet against four Parbhani-based alleged Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) operatives has claimed that their Syria-based handlers had sent photographs to instruct them in preparing improvised explosive devices (IED).

The Parbhani-based accused had allegedly taken photographs, in turn, of the process related to the assembly of the IED bombs and sent them to their handlers for assessment. The ATS also recovered a ‘wanted kill list’ from the seized mobile phone of one youth though its details were kept confidential.

The ATS has claimed the ‘wanted kill list’ included names of persons from all over the world including India and Maharashtra and details such as their e-mail IDs, workplace addresses, designations, mobile numbers and residential addresses.

The ISIS handlers were virtually running an online terror-training exercise to prepare the Parbhani module, according to the chargesheet. Between July and August this year, the ATS had, based on specific intelligence, busted a Parbhani-based ISIS module comprising four local youths who were allegedly radicalised and incited to conduct violent acts — Mohammed Raisuddin Mohammed Siddique, Iqbal Ahmed Kabir Ahmed, Nasir Chaus and Shahed Khan. The training was given by their Syria-based ISIS handler ‘Farook’, who is suspected to be an Indian and a former IM operative.

Farook gave the training via several private online video-chat services including Skype to Chaus and Khan.

Apart from Chaus and Khan, the ATS, in its approximately 3,700-page chargesheet charged Iqbal Ahmed and Raisuddin for criminal conspiracy, forgery and relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substance Act. The chargesheet said that the photographs showing IEDs, which were found in Chaus’s laptop, were “similar” to the 1.5 kg IED seized at the instance of Khan. The four were accused of aiding and abetting ‘Farook’ to prepare IEDs from commonly available fertilisers and other articles.

Explosive material seized The ATS has seized a laptop, four mobile phones, two pen drives, a card reader and a Bluetooth connector from the accused, which have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory to recover all their data. The ATS also managed to recover a plastic container consisting of remote anti-theft alarm system, nine 9-volt batteries, an LED screen, greyish black coloured powder and an electronic weighing machine for preparation of explosives. The FSL report from Kalina has revealed that the powder is combination of potassium, Nitrate, chlorate, sulphur, aluminium radicals and charcoal. The combination of the above radicals is explosive in nature.