Shivamogga ISIS terror accused nabbed by NIA at Delhi Airport on arrival from Kenya

In a massive development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday, September 14 arrested a key absconding Islamic State (IS) terror conspirator on arrival at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport from Nairobi, Kenya in connection with the Shivamogga ISIS terror conspiracy case.

"Arafath Ali was taken into custody the moment he landed at the Airport, marking a major breakthrough for the NIA in its efforts to uncover and foil the conspiracy of foreign-based modules of IS / ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) to carry out acts of terror and violence in India," NIA said.

Arafath has been on the run since 2020 when he fled India to evade arrest in the terror case. Since then, he has been operating from abroad to encourage the anti-India terror agenda of the IS. 

#BREAKING | Shivamogga ISIS terror accused Arafath Ali nabbed by NIA at Delhi airport.#Shivamogga #NIA #Delhi #DelhiAirport

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— Republic (@republic) September 14, 2023

According to the NIA probe, Arafath Ali, a native of Shivamogga district, was actively involved in the "identification, radicalisation and recruitment of gullible Muslim youth into the ISIS fold while working from abroad."

As part of the Shivamogga terror conspiracy, one accused, Mohamed Shariq, had been on his way to plant a pressure cooker IED at Mangaluru's  Kadri Manjunatha Temple when the IED exploded accidentally in the auto-rickshaw.

"Arafat Ali had been in active touch with the other accused persons in the case, and was actively involved in the planning and execution of the conspiracy," the anti-terror agency said.

Moreover, Arafath Ali was also liable for the two Mangaluru graffiti cases in 2020, when, on his orders, two other accused, identified as Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Mohamed Shariq, had written anti-India statements.