Islamic State men travelled to Ajmer to buy arms, planned to target VIPs in Hyderabad

The arrested ISIS 'sympathisers' had contributed Rs 1.5 lakh to carry out terror attacks in Hyderabad.

Pic courtesy: ANI

Hyderabad: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here on Thursday sent five Islamic State (IS) suspects allegedly plotting terror attacks in the city to judicial custody till July 14.

As per the remand report submitted by the NIA at a court in Hyderabad yesterday, besides attacking various places in the city, the five arrested ISIS men had also conspired to target prominent personalities.

All the suspects -- aged between 20 and 42 -- were allegedly plotting bomb attacks and indiscriminate firing at shopping malls and crowded places in Hyderabad, NIA sources had said earlier.

In another revelation, a report in Deccan Chronicle today said that suspects were in constant touch with each other over Internet and had been directed by ISIS operatives in Syria to unleash violent attacks in the city before Eid.

Meanwhile, a report in The New Indian Express quoted NIA sources as saying that the arrested ISIS 'sympathisers' had contributed Rs 1.5 lakh to carry out terror attacks. Also, at least two ISIS members, Habeeb Mohammad and Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, had even visited Ajmer a short time ago to purchase weapons. An initial investigation revealed that they paid Rs 65,000 but could not get weapons and ammunition.

“Later, Habeeb and Ibrahim made a trip to Nanded in Maharashtra to buy two semi-automatic 9mm pistols. Subsequently, Habeeb bought chemicals like sulphuric acid, acetone, hydrogen peroxide from Hyderabad and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh,” NIA sources said. The NIA added that the men had tested an IED and conducted practice sessions at an isolated place in Hyderabad.

During interrogation, Habeeb revealed that bomb-making technique videos were shown to all of them by Ibrahim on YouTube.

Reports had said that the accused were allegedly planning to target places of worship, information technology corridors and police stations.

The five accused arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday were produced before the magistrate amid tight security at Nampally Criminal Court yesterday.

They were later shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.

The NIA also moved a petition seeking their police custody for further questioning. It will come up for hearing today.

The five remanded in judicial custody are Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, 30, Habeeb Mohammed, 32, Mohammed Ilyas Yazdani, 24, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi 30 Aand Muzaffar Hussain Rizwan, 29.

An airgun, two 9 mm pistols, nails, two airgun target boards and other material like chemicals used for making explosives and Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) were seized during the raids. Cash totalling Rs 15 lakh, 40 mobile phones, 32 SIM cards, six laptops and seven pen drives and other digital items were also seized.

The NIA booked the five for waging war against the government, conspiring to commit certain offences against the state and collecting arms and ammunition with the intention of waging war against the government.