Techie who aided Lanka bombers was on NIA radar

NEW DELHI: A Sri Lankan software engineer taken into custody days after the Easter Day bombings in the island nation was purportedly in touch with and had influenced via online forums at least four Islamic State sympathisers arrested and chargesheeted in two separate NIA cases dating back to 2015-2016.
Aadhil Ameez, who as per a Reuters report was arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities for having provided technical and logistical support to the Easter Sunday suicide bombers, was one of the 10 persons who would continuously interact with Mohammad Naser, a web and graphics designer hailing from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. Naser was arrested by NIA in December 2015 on his deportation from Sudan where he had gone to join the IS.
As per the NIA chargesheet filed against Naser, he was inclined towards Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath that was active in his village and with its headquarters at Mannadi, Chennai. Naser would regularly attend meetings of TNTJ which would “indulge in propaganda of hate against Israel, VHP, RSS and other such organisations because these...were perceived as anti-Muslm by the members of the TNTJ”, says the chargesheet.
Naser was motivated to join IS after listening to lectures by Islamic scholars Anjem Choudhary and Abu Barra based in UK. Naser later befriended a person on Twitter who advised him to join a WhatsApp group Islam Q&A, to keep abreast with latest news on IS. Aadhil was allegedly in this group. Naser, who then got active on Telegram as well, came across an IS recruiter who helped him travel to Sudan to join Islamic State. He was later tracked by Indian intelligence agencies and deported.
It was on the basis of online tracking of IS sympathisers’ group of which Naser was a part that NIA busted a pan-India IS module in early 2016. Around two dozen radicalised persons were arrested following raids at 14 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mumbai, Tumkur and Mangalore.
Aadhil’s name also cropped up in a separate NIA case relating to the Abu Dhabi IS module comprising arrested accused Sheikh Azhar ul Islam from J&K, Adnan Hassan from Bhatkal in Karnataka and Mohd Farhan Sheikh from Mumbra, Thane. Sheikh, arrested in January 2016, used to browse, search and read jihadi speeches on internet. He was in contact with the ISIS operatives active on twitter including Abu Dujan, Karen Aisha, Marayam Khalil, Marayam Obaid, Lone Wolf, Kashmiri witness and Jannah Deen. He obtained ISIS related incriminating material online from Aadhil AX, believed to be internet identity of Aadhil Ameez arrested in Sri Lanka.
As per the NIA chargesheet, “Did You Know? Did u Know?” is a page both on twitter and Facebook founded by Aadhil AX, who would post information about the past wars of Islam and the history of the commanders of Islamic forces.
NIA had sent MLAT requests to other countries including US in both the cases to know further details of online associates of the arrested accused.