NIA Busts Six-Member ISIS Module In Coimbatore; Group’s Links With Sri Lanka Bombings Mastermind Under Investigation

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has busted an ISIS module in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, taking into custody six individuals who were propagating the group’s radical ideology on social media, reports The Hindu.

The prime suspect, 32-year-old Mohammed Azharudheen was also friends on Facebook with Zahran Hashim, who had masterminded the Easter bombings targeting Christian churches in Sri Lanka.

As per the NIA, the module was, “propagating the ideology of proscribed terrorist organization Islamic State on social media with the intention of recruiting vulnerable youth for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.”

Authorities have registered an FIR against the six, and are now trying to investigate whether the connection between the module and Hashim was just limited to Facebook, or did it go beyond that.

The other five members of the group are all residents of Coimbatore and are in their 20s and 30s. Their identities have been determined to be Akram Sindhaa, Y Shiek Hidayathullah, Abubacker, Sadham Hussain and Ibrahim Shah.