NIA raids houses of three with suspected links to ISIS-inspired module

TRICHY: National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams on Saturday conducted searches at the houses of three people in Trichy and Thanjavur suspected to have links with the six alleged members of an ISIS-inspired module arrested in Coimbatore four months ago. They have been summoned for further investigation in this regard as the module was allegedly plotting terror attacks in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
An NIA team from Ernakulam in Kerala barged into the house of S Sarfuddin, 21, a diploma holder from Netaji Nagar in Edamalaipattipudhur, Trichy city, in the early hours of the day.The sleuths seized electronic gadgets after searching the house. The man was running a photocopy shop-cum-computer centre at Manikandam area on Madurai road. The team also searched the house of his close relative A Abdul Jaffar, 24, on Nathar street. NIA suspects that Sarfuddin and Abdul Jaffar ‘liked’ the comments about ISIS and also shared them on social media. They have doubts whether the duo had searched the website of the terrorist organisation. The investigation officers inquired with the two for a long time. Jaffar being a close relative of Sarfuddin had returned from a foreign country recently. Since he planned to go abroad again in a few days, the team seized his passport.
Sources said that the agency had a search warrant from the NIA special court in Ernakulam in the case related to the ISIS-inspired module. Some of the six people arrested in that case had also followed Sri Lankan suicide bomber Zahran Hashim on social media.
In Thanjavur, another NIA team led by a deputy superintendent of police searched the house of Sheik Alauddin on Aattu Mandhai Street. He was also said to have posted a comment in support of ISIS on social media and was suspected to have links with the six arrested. In the raids at the three places, the investigating agency seized two laptops, six mobile phones, 11 sim cards, a pen drive, hard disc, memory card, five CDs/DVDs, an axe and 17 documents. Sources said that all the three have been asked to appear at the NIA office in Ernakulam for further investigation.