The National Investigation Agency on Thursday conducted raids at five locations in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district in connection with its inquiry into an alleged Islamic State module, IANS reported. The state was put on high alert last week following an intelligence input that six Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists had settled in Coimbatore.

The agency has in the past few months arrested several people in the state for alleged links to a terror module of the Islamic State group.

Five teams of the NIA carried out the raids at the homes of Umar Farooq, Sanabar Ali, Sameena Mubin, Muhammad Yasir, Sadam Hussain – all of whom are under the agency’s lens for alleged links to the Islamic State group, India Today reported.

“During searches today at the houses of five associates of the accused persons, digital devices, including one laptop, five mobile phones, four SIM cards, one memory card and eight CDs/DVDs, and a large number of incriminating documents have been seized,” the agency said in a statement. It added that the seized devices will be sent for forensic examination.

According to the NIA, some of the accused and their associates were in touch with Zahran Hashim, the suspected mastermind behind the Easter Sunday bomb blasts in Sri Lanka on April 21, that left over 250 dead.

In June, the NIA arrested Mohammed Azarudeen, the suspected mastermind of the Islamic State group’s Tamil Nadu module, from the city of Coimbatore. The agency had also arrested another suspect, Shiek Hidayathulla.

On August 23, terrorists were suspected to have entered Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, via sea. Police had beefed up security in the city as well as in neighbouring Kerala. Searches were conducted in sensitive areas and public places. One of the six infiltrators was said to be allegedly from Pakistan and the others were Tamil Muslims from Sri Lanka. Officials are reportedly extra vigilant in Chennai and Coimbatore.

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