13th Arrest Made in Connection with 2022 Coimbatore Car Bomb Blast: NIA

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced on Friday that it has apprehended the 13th individual associated with the 2022 ISIS-inspired Coimbatore car bomb blast incident. Mohammed Azarudeen, also known as Azar, has been taken into custody in connection with the case.

Notably, the NIA revealed that Azarudeen is already incarcerated at the Viyyur high-security prison in Kerala’s Thrissur in another legal matter.

According to the anti-terror agency, Azarudeen had previously attended secret ‘bayan’ classes alongside other suspects involved in the Coimbatore blast case, including Jamesha Mubeen, the driver of the vehicle used in the explosion who was killed during the incident. These clandestine classes played a crucial role in indoctrinating all the accused with ISIS ideology and inciting them to carry out violent acts of terrorism.

Further investigations by the NIA uncovered that Jamesha Mubeen, along with two other arrested suspects, had met Azarudeen while he was in prison. They conspired to plan and execute a terror attack in the Sathyamangalam forests as part of a scheme to avenge Azarudeen’s arrest and secure his release through a jailbreak.

The Coimbatore car bomb blast occurred on October 23, 2022, in front of the Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil, an ancient temple located on Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore. The attack involved a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosives Device (VBIED) driven by Jamesha Mubeen, who, along with his associates, had been radicalized by hardcore ISIS ideology.

The group had sworn allegiance to the self-proclaimed ISIS Caliph Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi and intended to carry out the terror attack as an act of revenge against non-believers of Islam.

The NIA has filed two chargesheets in the case before the NIA court in Poonamallee, Chennai. The first chargesheet, submitted on April 20, 2023, named six accused, while the second chargesheet, filed on June 2, 2023, included five individuals. The 12th accused, Mohammed Idris, was arrested on August 2, 2023, marking the ongoing progress of the investigation.

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