A National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Bengaluru on Wednesday convicted two “highly radicalised members” of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and sentenced them to seven years’ imprisonment each. Akthar Hussain Laskar (alias Md Hussain) of Assam and Abdul Aleem Mondal (alias Md Juba) of West Bengal have also been fined Rs 41,000 and Rs 51,000 respectively by the court in the case (RC-40/2022/NIA/DLI).
The NIA had registered a case against them on August 30, 2022, under sections 153A, 153B, 120B, 121, 121A, 114, 511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The conviction of the two AQIS members marks a major success in the NIA’s sustained efforts to identify the banned outfit’s “handlers” and prosecute them, said officials.
As per NIA investigations, the two convicts had been radicalised and recruited by foreign-based online handlers of AQIS and were actively engaged in furthering the activities of the terrorist group. Following their recruitment by AQIS, the men had joined various Telegram groups.
The NIA probe has also revealed that the men had conspired to undertake hijrah (holy migration) to the Khorasan Province of Afghanistan, where they also intended to undergo training.
Further, the two men had planned to carry out jihad against members of a particular community in India after undertaking training in Khorasan, as part of the AQIS conspiracy to promote its anti-India agenda through acts of terror and violence.
They were also in the process of radicalising and recruiting other youth into the AQIS, besides motivating them to commit hijraj to Khorasan, Afghanistan.
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