The National Investigation Agency on Monday arrested a suspected Islamic State group operative in Chennai for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to carry out attacks across Tamil Nadu. In a statement, the central agency said that Shakul Hameed and eight others are accused of planning attacks to further the activities of the militant organisation in India.

The agency said it registered a case suo motu against the nine accused at the NIA police station in Delhi on January 26. “The accused people and their associates, with the intention of furthering the activities of the proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)/Daesh, had hatched a criminal conspiracy from 2013 onward, and formed a terrorist gang that raised and received funds,” the statement read.

The NIA said its investigation showed the main accused, Haja Fakkurudeen, a Singaporean citizen of Indian origin, and his family had joined the Islamic State group in Syria in January 2014. Fakkurudeen, who hails from Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu, visited India twice between November 2013 and January 2014, when he had met Hameed and the others to recruit more people. The agency said Hameed tried to migrate to Syria in August 2015 through Turkey, but was intercepted and deported to India.

Hameed will now be produced before a special NIA court in Chennai.