Two key accused in IS Abu Dhabi conspiracy case sentenced to 5 yrs in jail

The court in Delhi on Thursday sentenced them under sections 120B, 201 of IPC, u/s 17,18, 38,39 & 40 of UA(P) Act and section 5 of Explosive Substances Act. The court while awarding them jail terms also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on each.

The accused, Abdullah Basith and Abdul Qadir, were arrested on August 12, 2018 for their affiliation with IS and for furthering its violent anti-India agenda through the IS Abu Dhabi module. 

The NIA launched its investigation in the case on January 28, 2016 on orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India after details of the serious conspiracy came to light during investigation in another case.

The NIA had then discovered a criminal conspiracy hatched by three Indian nationals, namely Sheikh Azhar Al Islam Sattar Sheikh, Mohammed Farhan Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh and Adnan Hussain, all members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS). Along with other unknown associates, these three had conspired to identify, motivate, radicalise, recruit and train gullible Indian Muslim youths, both within and outside the country, to initiate them into the planning and execution of terrorist attacks. 

NIA had filed a charge sheet against the trio on July 25, 2016. In 2017, all three had pleaded guilty before the NIA Special Court, which then sentenced them to seven years of imprisonment of life.

Further investigations into these men’s antecedents showed that one Abdullah Basith, an active member of IS, was also part of the IS Abu Dhabi module. He was found engaged in actively propagating the organisation’s ideology in furtherance of the larger criminal conspiracy.

Basith had radicalised and motivated vulnerable youth to join IS and collected funds from accused Adnan Hussain and other associates. He had even facilitated the visa and passport of radicalised youth with the help of the funds collected. He had also been involved in arranging and managing meetings with his associates to strengthen and expand the ISIS footprint in India.

Mohammed Abdul Qadeer, the other accused charge-sheeted on Thursday, had come in contact with Abdullah Basith after watching a television interview in May 2017. He also then became a part of the conspiracy and supported the activities of Abdullah Basith in promoting the IS ideology. He openly professed to be a supporter and member of the Islamic State. Mohammed Abdul Qadeer had attended various meetings of IS organised by Abdullah Basith. 

A supplementary charge sheet was filed against these two accused by NIA on February 7, 2019.

 

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