New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested two persons in Hyderabad for their alleged connections with the Islamic State. They were identified as Mohammad Abdullah Basith (24), son of Mohammad Abdul Arif of Hafeez Baba Nagar and Mohammad Abdul Qadeer (19), son of Abdul Quddus of Chandrayangutta, both in the old city of Hyderabad, a NIA release said.

The arrests followed a series of raids conducted by NIA sleuths at seven places on August 6 and subsequent interrogation of several suspects in the last one week. “A lot of incriminating material was seized from the accused and has been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad for analysis and data extraction,” the release said.

The NIA authorities said during the interrogation, it was revealed that both Basith and Qadeer had pledged their allegiance to the IS to carry out terror activities in India. “They were arrested to ascertain the details of the ongoing conspiracy and also their role played in furthering the IS ideology to carry out terrorist acts in India,” they said.

On January 28, 2016, the NIA registered a case in New Delhi, under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, against Sheikh Azhar-ul-Islam, Mohammed Farhan Shaikh and Adnan Hassan, charging them and their unknown associates with being members of the IS and involved in motivating, radicalising, recruiting and training Indian Muslim youth in its ideology so as to carry out terror activities.

After completion of investigation, the NIA filed charge-sheet against the three on July 25, 2016 in the NIA Special Court in New Delhi. While Sheikh Azhar-ul-Islam and Mohammed Farhan Shaikh pleaded guilty and were sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, the trial of Adnan Hassan was still going on.