Coimbatore bomb blast case: NIA arrests four more in TN

CHENNAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested more four persons in connection with the October 2022 Coimbatore Car bomb blast and the TN ISIS radicalization and recruitment case after searches at 21 locations across the State.

Searches also led to the seizure of six laptops, 25 mobile phones, 34 SIM cards, six SD cards, and three hard discs.

"Raids were conducted at 11 locations associated with Madras Arabic College/Kovai Arabic College in which individuals allegedly engaged in clandestine radicalization of gullible youth in the garb of Arabic language classes by promoting Jihad. Besides the Arabic classes, the radicalization took place online through social media platforms and mobile applications, such as WhatsApp and Telegram," NIA said.

Susceptible youth were also being recruited to commit terrorist acts and unlawful activities, such as the Coimbatore car bomb blast that took place in October 2022.

NIA investigations had further revealed that 10 accused arrested in the blast case had been associated with the Kovai Arabic College in Coimbatore.

Investigations showed that the suspects had eulogized Zahran Hashim, the dead Sri Lankan terrorist who had been preaching hate and violence and had orchestrated the attack that killed more than 250 civilians in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2019, a release stated.

On Saturday, three of the persons arrested following the raids were linked with the Madras Arabic College. Jameel Basha Umari, who had floated the college to promote fundamentalism, extremism, and radicalisation, and his students Maulvi Hussain Faizy alias Mohammed Hussain Faizy and Irshath. The latter two rechristened Madras Arabic College as Kovai Arabic College. The fourth accused arrested following the raids has been identified as Syed Abdur Rahman Umari, who was in possession of incriminating literature connected with ISIS, a release stated.