NIA arrests absconding accused in Srilankan-Pakistan espionage case

VISAKHAPATNAM: The officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested a proclaimed offender Nuruddin alias Rafi from Rajeev Nagar in Mysore of Karnataka state on Wednesday. Raffi was carrying a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh and was absconded after jumping bail in the Hyderabad espionage case involving a Sri Lankan and a Pakistani national.

He has conspired to carry out an explosion attack at the US Consulate and Israel embassy in Bengaluru, besides he financed another Srilankan National Muhammad Shakir Hussaien, who had allegedly visited Vizag and had conducted reconnaissance and photographed even the surroundings of Eastern Naval Command, the Indian Navy’s base in East Coast.

Following his arrest, the NIA team conducted search in a house search and several incriminating materials, including mobile phones, laptop, pen drives, drones, and others were recovered.

A non-bailable warrant was issued earlier against Nuruddin when he had failed to appear before the NIA Special Court, Chennai, after being released on bail under stringent conditions in August 2023. The Court had declared him a proclaimed offender (PO) on May 7 of this year.

The case (RC-02/2014/NIA/HYD) relates to a terror conspiracy by Sri Lankan national Muhammed Sakir Hussaien and Amir Zubair Siddique, a Pakistani National employed at Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They had conspired to carry out explosions at the US Consulate in Chennai and the Israel Embassy in Bengaluru in 2014.

NIA investigations have revealed that Nuruddin was involved in financing the anti-national espionage activities through High-Quality Fake Indian Currency Notes at the behest of the accused Pakistani national. The trial against Nuruddin, which was stalled after he had absconded, will now resume.