Kovai blast: Police, NIA raids over 100 places in 10 days

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) are continuing raids across the state in connection with the Coimbatore blast.

Sources in the Coimbatore city police told IANS that for the past ten days, more than 100 places have been raided in the city and suburbs. Surveillance of many people who were indirectly involved in the blast is also continuing.

Meanwhile, the NIA has conducted raids and searches on residences and premises of friends and relatives of the seven who were involved in the blast. Firoz Ismail, one of the arrested under the Unlawful Prevention Prevention Act (UAPA) charges, was deported in 2019 by the UAE government following his connection with Islamic States (IS) during his stay in that country.

However, his mother Maimuna Beegum claims that Firoz and his brother Mohammed Nawaz Ismail (another of the arrested under UAPA in the case) were innocent and that Firoz was not deported from UAE and had come back after his visa expired.

Coimbatore City police have already got information from an e-commerce portal that the deceased Jameesha Mubin and his associates Afsar Khan and Mohammed Azharuddin had purchased chemical substances through their sites. Notably, chemicals like potassium nitrate, Aluminum powder Sulphur, and charcoal which could be used in making IED bombs were recovered from the residence of the deceased Mubin.

According to sources, the NIA is conducting searches in many areas of Tamil Nadu that are related to the accused. However, the details of the investigation and the premises of the raids are not known.

Meanwhile, the appearance of certain sketches of Jihad recovered from the residence of Mubin appeared on social media. This, according to police, was recovered by the state police before the case was taken over by the NIA. The police have also commenced investigation as to how these details have come up in social media.