Rajkot:- Two brothers with suspected ISIS links who were arrested for allegedly hatching plans to conduct “lone-wolf” attacks in Gujarat were today sent to 12-day police custody by a court here.
The investigators wanted to ascertain if the siblings had any attempts to trigger blasts in the past and indulged in other subversive activities.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad, which sought 14-day custody of the duo, said it also wanted to find out if there is any sleeper cell of the ISIS in the state.
Judicial Magistrate R A Singh, however, granted 12-day custody of Waseem Ramodiya and his brother Naeem, who were arrested yesterday.
The ATS said it wanted to find out from where the two had bought explosive materials, used in making bombs recovered from them.
The ATS wanted to find out from the duo whether they had in the past made any attempt to carry out blasts or indulged in other anti-national activities.
Listing reasons for seeking custody of the duo, ATS ACP Ramesh Faldu told the court it also wanted to find out if ISIS sleeper cells are active in Gujarat.
Wasim and Naeem, who hold MCA and BCA degrees respectively, were allegedly in contact with ISIS handlers and were planning to target religious places like Chotila.
Based on specific information about their alleged activities “inspired by the jihadi ideology of ISIS”, ATS officials nabbed Wasim from Rajkot and his younger brother Naeem from Bhavnagar in an early morning operation yesterday.
Police had been keeping a close watch on their activities since last three months, as they were found to be in contact with ISIS through Skype and other social media platforms.
Investigation has revealed that the two had allegedly planned to attack a famous temple at Chotila town in Surendranagar district and to trigger blasts at different places and set on fire vehicles.
They planned to record and upload the video of the attack on social media, to spread terror.
They were indoctrinated in Jihadi philosophy in the last two years after coming across ISIS literature online. They were also in touch with ISIS’ controversial preacher Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, arrested by NIA in February 2016.
Police had claimed that the duo were held just in time, as they had hatched a plan to carry out bomb blasts at some religious places.
According to ATS, the brothers were in touch with some unknown handlers of ISIS based in Iraq and Syria and had plan to escape to these countries after carrying out attacks here.
Attracted to ISIS two years back, they were in contact with the main ISIS persons as well as unknown handlers to get guidance.
Gun powder, locally made bombs with battery and masks to hide their identity were recovered from during raids at their place, besides seizing computers in which objectionable and prohibited content in them.
PTI
