Shivamogga terror case accused exchanged money via cryptocurrency; SP reveals key details

In big revelations in the Shivamogga terror case, Karnataka Police on Saturday said that the accused persons used to accept funds through cryptocurrency and had planned to target "non-believers" of Islamic State (IS) ideology.

Engineering students Maaz Muneer Ahmed (22) and Syed Yasin (21), and Shariq (24) were booked on Monday in the case. While Shariq is absconding, the other two have been arrested and sent to seven-day police remand.

"The accused persons exchanged money through cryptocurrency. They have been most active since the last two years," Shivamogga SP Dr BM Laxmi Prasad said in a press conference.

The Police had said that the accused had planned to target "non-believers of IS ideology". They had procured electronic parts needed for assembling bombs from a popular e-commerce website, the SP added.

Giving the background of how the accused met, Prasad said that Shariq, Maaz and Yaseen were all classmates in a college. "Shariq and Maaz used to provide IS material to Yaseen and brainwashed him into following IS ideology," he added.

'Accused planned serial blasts across Karnataka,' say police

On Friday, Police conducted raids at 11 locations and seized electronic gadgets and materials used for preparing explosives. Cops also revealed that the accused wanted to conduct blasts across the state.

"We have raided 11 locations and have seized sensitive material. We have also seized 14 mobile phones and a dongle. Two laptops, 1 pen drive and other electronic gadgets too have been seized. We have also seized materials for preparing bombs such as explosives, relay circuits, wires, bulbs, inflammable material and batteries," police said adding that the accused were planning to conduct explosions across Karnataka after they concluded the trial blasts.

The terror module case was exposed when police were investigating some previous instates of violence and vandalism. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also joined the probe.