Three suspected terrorists arrested in Coimbatore

Chennai, DHNS: Three persons have been arrested for allegedly planning attacks in temples and churches in Coimbatore after having been “inspired” by terror outfit ISIS, whose pamphlets they translated into Tamil to “radicalise” more youths, police has said.

Mohammed Hussain, Shahjahan and Sheik Safiullah were taken into custody by personnel of the Pothanur Police Station in Coimbatore following a tip-off that the trio has been regularly meeting and has been “speaking high” of the suicide bombers who struck churches in Sri Lanka on April 21.

In the FIR, the Pothanur Police said the trio were “inspired” by ISIS and have been constantly watching the videos of the terror outfit and even translating some of the literature into Tamil to indoctrinate more youths in the state.

The police said that the trio had been planning to strike temples, churches and other crowded places in the city through terror attacks. “Moreover, the trio has been working overtime to create a wedge between sections of the society by creating a fear psychosis in the city by killing people in terror attacks,” the FIR reads.

The FIR, a copy of which has been accessed by DH, also says that the trio have been speaking “very high” of the suicide bombers who killed more than 200 people in coordinated attacks that targeted churches and five-star hotels serving Easter breakfast on April 21.

The arrest was recorded the same day the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took into its custody a 32-year-old man, Mohammed Azarudeen, who was a "Facebook friend" with one of the suicide bombers of the Easter attacks.

Officials said that Azarudeen was not just friends with Zahran Hashim, one of the bombers, on Facebook but was actively involved in propagating the messages of the suicide bomber on the social media platform.

Azarudeen and five of his aides were questioned by the NIA during searches at their residences in Coimbatore following lodging of a case against them for allegedly propagating the IS ideology on social media to recruit new members to carry out attacks in South India.

National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ), a little-known organisation in Sri Lanka, had claimed responsibility for the attacks that shook the tiny island nation on April 21.

The NTJ is a splinter group of Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamaat, an offshoot of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaat (TNTJ), an organisation based in Chennai. The TNTJ has denied any links with the NTJ and condemned the blasts as well.

Coimbatore has had troubled past with regard to terrorism— serial blasts carried out by Al-Ummah had struck the Manchester of South India on February 14, 1998, during an election rally and more than 50 people were killed.