Two men from Hyderabad have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for links with Islamic State (ISIS), Times of India has reported . The arrested persons have been identified as Abdullah Basith (24) and Mohammed Abdul Qhadeer (19). Abdullah Basith is the nephew of twice de-radicalised former Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) president Syed Salahuddin.

The two were caught for attempting to spread ISIS ideology and carry out attacks. The NIA probe had revealed that Basith was in touch with ISIS India chief Shafi Armar through Facebook, Telegram and other online platforms.

The agency claimed that it had collected material including digital devices to make an improvised explosive device (IED) from Abdul Qhadeer. NIA questioned him for a week before going for arrests. Abdullah Basith had attempted to travel to Syria areas twice in 2014 and 2015, but was stopped by agencies. In his first attempt he had tried to travel via Kolkata and in the second attempt via Srinagar.

The new module unraveled by the agency is an offshoot of an earlier ISIS terror module busted in 2016. Abdullah Basith’s sister was also a part of ISIS module which was busted by NIA in 2016. She was in touch with some ISIS leaders in Syria.