Two more IS sympathisers held in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, July 12  The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two more persons here, taking to seven the number of persons arrested in connection with suspected Islamic State (IS) terror module busted in the city last month.

The IS sympathisers arrested on Tuesday have been identified as Mohammed Ataullah Rehman, 30, and Syed Naimath Ullah Hussaini, 42. 

They were produced before the NIA special court, which sent them to judicial custody for two weeks.

Both were taken into custody from two different places in the old city of Hyderabad. While Rehman was arrested from Bandlaguda, Hussaini was picked up from Moghalpura.

"Rehman and Hussaini were arrested on Monday after we found their role in terror acts. NIA will seek their custody for further probe," an NIA official told IANS on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.

Rehman allegedly played a key role in the conspiracy. He was involved in radicalising the group members and also allegedly administered Bayah (oath of allegiance) to IS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, to the group members.

He is said to have participated in several conspiracy meetings as revealed by the other co-accused arrested in the case.

Hussaini was acting as 'amir' of the group, contributing money to the terrorist fund collected by the members. He too participated in key conspiracy meetings, the NIA officials said.

The NIA on June 29 busted an IS module by detaining 11 young men during searches at 10 places in the old city of Hyderabad.

Five of them -- Mohammed Iliyas Yazdani, 24, his brother Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, 29, Habib Mohammed, 32, Mohammed Irfan alias Yaqais, 26, and Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi alias Fahad, 30-- were arrested.

Rehman and Hussaini were among those six who were detained but later let off by the anti-terror agency. The duo were arrested after investigators found evidence against them.

The other detainees were Muzaffar Hussain Rizwan, 29, Abdul, 32, A.M. Azhar, 20, and Mohammed Arbaz Ahmed, 21.

The NIA said the men were conspiring to commit terrorist acts in various parts of the country. According to the agency, they were planning to target public places, including religious sites and sensitive government buildings.

Meanwhile, the NIA produced the five youth arrested earlier before the court as their police custody ended Tuesday. The court extended their judicial custody till July 26.

The investigating agency also moved a petition, seeking further police custody of Ilyias Yazdani and Ibrahim Yazdani for further interrogation.