ED probes crypto funding of Shivamogga IS module, which is under scanner in Bengaluru cafe blast case | Bangalore News
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has begun an investigation into the funding of an Islamic State-linked terror module from the Shivamogga region of Karnataka — which is also currently being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for possible links to a March 1 blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Whitefield in Bengaluru.
Last week ED assistant director Nalini Ravikrishnan was granted permission by a special court for terrorism cases to examine two members of the Shivamogga IS module at the Central Prison in Bengaluru between March 18 and 26.
The court allowed the ED officials to examine module members Mohammed Shariq, 24, and Syed Yasin, 25, who are accused of being part of a terrorism plot after an accidental bomb blast occurred in an autorickshaw in Mangaluru on November 19, 2022, while a pressure cooker bomb was allegedly being carried out by Shariq for planting in Mangaluru.
“The applicant is permitted to carry laptop, printers, stationary and other materials which are necessary for the purpose of interrogation of accused No.1 and 2 to the jail premises,” a special court for terrorism cases ruled last week.
The Shivamogga module is suspected to have received over Rs 3 lakh in crypto currency from handlers suspected to be based abroad between 2020 and 2022. Shariq who was training others to make IEDs sent money to Yasin through cryptocurrency to make a bomb that was tested in Shivamogga in August-September 2022.
The Shivamogga module of the IS emerged on the radar of investigating agencies in India in 2020 after three youths from the Thirthahalli region of Shivamogga – Mohammed Shariq, 24, Maaz Muneer Ahmed, 25, and Syed Yasin, 25 – were arrested for writing provocative graffiti on the wall of a police station in Mangaluru.
Later in September 2022, the Shivamogga police registered a terrorism case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against the three youths for carrying out trial blasts in Shivamogga. A total of 10 people have been arrested in the trial blast case that was handed over to the NIA in November 2022.
Two of the youths Mohammed Shariq and Syed Yasin were later accused in a third terror case where an IED loaded in a pressure cooker accidentally detonated in an auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru on November 19, 2022 while it was being transported by Mohammed Shariq.
Last week, as part of its investigations into a blast that occurred at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1, the NIA obtained the custody of Maaz Muneer, a key member of the Shivamogga module of the Islamic State lodged at the Bengaluru central prison in connection with the 2022 IS case.
The NIA obtained a body warrant on March 14 for seven days of custody of Maaz Muneer Ahmed, 25, an engineering graduate for investigations of The Rameshwaram Cafe blast case. The NIA is probing striking similarities between IEDs used in Shivamogga, Mangaluru and Bengaluru and the possible involvement of the same module in the latest incident.
According to the NIA’s ongoing probe against the Shivamogga module, an online handler identified as ‘Colonel’ provided funds to the accused members of the module “in crypto currency to crypto wallets of the accused and their friends to further the activities of Islamic State”.
“The bank statements and other documents collected by the investigating officer clearly go to show that accused No.2 (Maaz Muneer Ahmed) received crypto currencies through crypto wallets of accused No.4 (Reeshan Shaikh), witnesses Shadab, Mohamed Riyaz, Tabish Tabarak Sheikh and others,” the NIA has reported to the special court.
The NIA probe has also found that Syed Yasin got crypto currency deposited into the Binance wallet of his friend Mohammed Noorin Sharief and collected the cash. Yasin also allegedly received crypto currency in his Binance wallet and “transferred more than Rs 1 lakh into the Binance account of accused No.1 (Mohammed Shariq).
Reeshan Shaikh received crypto currencies into his Zebpay account from the online handler ‘Colonel’ and into the crypto account of his college friend Shadab, the NIA has alleged.
One of the accused in the group, Huzair Farhan Baig, arranged a hideout in Bengaluru for Maaz Muneer Ahmed out of the funds received through crypto wallets to extend the activities of Islamic State to Bengaluru, the NIA has alleged.
Another accused in the case Arafath Ali who was deported from Kenya in September 2023 “was paid by an online handler in the form of cryptocurrencies for furthering the activities of Islamic State, an outlawed terrorist organization. The data is being collected from concerned crypto platforms,” the NIA has alleged.
