The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out raids in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with two terror cases and confiscated incriminating documents.
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Several teams of the NIA searched multiple locations in the three States on February 15 in connection with the Coimbatore car bomb blast (October 2022) and Mangaluru cooker blast (November 2022) cases.
NIA informed mediapersons that houses of suspects were searched at over 30 locations in the districts of Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Chennai, Thiruvannamalai, Dindigul, Mayiladuthurai, Krishnagiri, Kanyakumari and Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu, Ernakulam in Kerala, and Mysuru in Karnataka.
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The searches yielded a large number of digital devices and cash amounting to ₹4 lakh.
According to the NIA, one case relates to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran temple in Coimbatore district. The accused, Jamesha Mubeen, after swearing bayath (allegiance) to ISIS, was planning to carry out a suicide attack in October 2022 and cause extensive damage to the temple complex with the intention of striking terror among a section of the society.
The other case is of a pressure cooker bomb and improvised explosive device (IED) blast that took place in a moving autorickshaw in Mangaluru, Karnataka in November 2022, while the accused was carrying the bomb for planting in a public place. This case was initially registered as an FIR at Kankanady police station in Mangaluru, Karnataka, and re-registered by NIA in November 2022.