In a significant breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two wanted ISIS operatives at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The arrests were made late Friday night as the duo arrived from Jakarta, Indonesia, where they had been evading authorities.
The accused, identified as Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh (alias Diaperwala) and Talha Khan, were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at Terminal 2. According to NIA officials, the two were key members of an ISIS sleeper cell and had been absconding in connection with a 2023 case involving the fabrication and testing of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Pune’s Kondhwa area.
Both men had organized bomb-making workshops and conducted controlled IED tests as part of a broader terror plot. They had non-bailable warrants issued against them and carried a reward of ₹3 lakh each for information leading to their arrest.
They were earlier chargesheeted along with eight other accused operatives — including Mohammed Imran Khan, Mohammed Yunus Saki, Abdul Kadir Pathan, and others — who are currently in judicial custody. Investigations suggest the group was planning to disrupt national security and communal harmony under ISIS’s extremist ideology, with aims to impose Islamic rule in India through violent means.
The accused are booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act, and the Indian Penal Code. The NIA emphasized that the arrests reaffirm India’s zero-tolerance policy on terrorism and its resolve to eliminate ISIS-linked threats within the country.
Shaikh and Khan will be produced before the NIA Special Court in Mumbai for further legal proceedings.
