NIA makes fifth arrest in Maharashtra ISIS module case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Thursday arrested another accused for allegedly promoting violent activities of the proscribed global terrorist outfit ISIS in Maharashtra, an official said.

Adnan Ali Sarkar, 43, was the fifth accused arrested in the case, which was registered on June 28, a spokesperson of the anti-terror federal agency said.

Terming the arrest of Sarkar from his house in Kondhwa area of Pune as a ''major breakthrough'' in the ISIS Maharashtra module case, the official said several incriminating materials such as electronic gadgets and documents related to the ISIS, also known as Islamic State, were seized during the raid.

''The material exposed the accused's allegiance with the ISIS and his role in promoting the outfit's violent agenda by motivating and recruiting vulnerable youth,'' the spokesperson said.

According to the NIA, the accused had hatched a conspiracy to further terrorist activities of the ISIS, also known by the names of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), Daish, Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), ISIS Wilayat Khorasan/Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham Khorasan (ISIS-K).

''Sarkar was trying to disturb the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of the country, and wage a war against the Government of India as part of the ISIS conspiracy through the organisation's 'Maharashtra ISIS module','' it said.

Earlier, four accused - Tabish Nasser Siddiqui from Mumbai, Zubair Noor Mohammed Shaikh alias ''Abu Nusaiba'' from Pune, and Sharjeel Shaikh and Zulfikar Ali Barodawala from Thane - were arrested by the NIA on July 3 after extensive searches.

''The agency will continue to probe the Maharashtra ISIS module case to unravel the full contours of the ISIS conspiracy,'' the spokesperson said.

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