9 al-Qaeda terrorists arrested, were planning attacks: NIA

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday claimed to have smashed a Pakistan-sponsored Al Qaeda module with the arrest of nine men from West Bengal and Kerala.

Six persons were arrested from West Bengal's Murshidabad and three from Kerala's Ernakulam. The arrest came following the agency registering a case on September 11 following inputs that an inter-state module of Al Qaeda operatives at various locations in India including West Bengal and Kerala.

"The group was planning to undertake terrorist attacks at vital installations in India with an aim to kill innocent people and strike terror in their minds," the NIA said.

In early morning raids, it said, large quantity of materials including digital devices, documents, jihadi literature, sharp weapons, country-made firearms, a locally fabricated body armour, articles and literature used for making home-made explosive devices have been seized from their possession.

The NIA said that the arrested persons were "radicalised" by Pakistan-based Al Qaeda terrorists on social media and were motivated to undertake attacks at multiple places including the National Capital Region.

"For this purpose, the module was actively indulging in fund raising and a few members of gang were planning to travel to New Delhi to procure arms and ammunition. These arrests have pre-empted possible terrorist attacks in various parts of the country," the NIA said.

Those arrested from Ernakulam are Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas and Mosaraf Hossen while those nabbed from Murshidabad were Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman.

The module was actively indulging in fundraising and a few members of the gang were planning to travel to New Delhi to procure arms and ammunition. These arrests have pre-empted possible terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, the agency added.