NIA arrests two members of IS sleeper cell from Mumbai airport

The NIA had also declared a cash reward of ₹3 lakh each for information about the two accused, who were wanted in a 2023 case related to fabrication and testing of IEDs in Pune. File photo
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two absconders allegedly part of a sleeper cell of terrorist outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from Mumbai airport, officials said on Saturday (May 17, 2025).

The duo were wanted in a 2023 case related to fabrication and testing of IEDs in Pune, Maharashtra, they said.

The accused, identified as Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh alias Diaperwala and Talha Khan, were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at the Mumbai International Airport Terminal 2 last night when they tried to return to India from Jakarta, Indonesia, where they had been hiding, the officials said.

The NIA team then took them into custody and arrested them, said a statement issued by the probe agency.

The two accused had been on the run for more than two years and also had non-bailable warrants issued against them by the NIA Special Court, Mumbai.

The NIA had also declared a cash reward of ₹3 lakh each for information about the two accused.

The case relates to a criminal conspiracy by these men, along with eight other Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Pune sleeper cell members already arrested and in judicial custody, the statement said.

They had conspired to commit terrorist acts with the aim to disturb India’s peace and communal harmony by waging a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS agenda to establish Islamic rule in the country through violence and terror, it said.

These two men, already chargesheeted along with the other arrested accused, were allegedly involved in assembling IEDs from a house rented by Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh in Kondhwa, Pune, the NIA said.

During the 2022-2023 period, they had also organised and participated in a bomb-making and training workshop, besides carrying out a controlled explosion to test an IED fabricated by them, at these premises, it said.

The NIA, which has been actively investigating the activities of ISIS in India in a bid to foil its terrorist plans, had previously chargesheeted all the 10 accused in the case under various sections of the Unlawful Activities of Prevention Act, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and the Indian Penal Code.

Besides Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh and Talha Khan, the others arrested in the case are identified as Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, Abdul Kadir Pathan, Simab Nasiruddin Kazi, Zulfikar Ali Barodawala, Shamil Nachan, Akif Nachan and Shahnawaz Alam, the probe agency said.