The quantum of punishment will be pronounced by the special NIA court later

A special court in Lucknow has convicted eight suspected Islamic States (IS) operatives in a terror conspiracy case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said the conviction is a big shot in the arm of the agency in its nationwide crackdown on the global terror outfit.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced by the special NIA court later, an NIA official told news agency PTI.

THE CASE

The eight convicts were arrested in 2017 in the Kanpur conspiracy case pertaining to planning of terror acts. The case was initially registered at ATS Police Station in Lucknow and re-registered by NIA six days later.

During the NIA probe, it was revealed that the eight suspected IS operatives had prepared and tested some improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unsuccessfully tried to plant them at various locations in Uttar Pradesh.

A notebook seized from a hideout of the group in Lucknow contained handwritten notes about potential targets and details about bomb making, the NIA said.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ISLAMIC STATE FLAG

The NIA said it also discovered several photographs of the accused making IEDs and even with weapons, ammunition and ISIS flag, PTI reported. They also collected illegal weapons and explosives from various places.

The eight convicts were also involved in an explosion on board the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train on March 7, 2017, which left 10 people injured. The train explosion case is currently under trial. The investigation revealed that some of the convicts were responsible for fabricating the IED that was planted on the Bhopal-Ujjain train.

CONSPIRACY CASE

The NIA official told PTI that the breakthrough in the IS-backed criminal conspiracy case came when the main accused, Mohammed Faisal of Kanpur Nagar, was arrested for his involvement in the train explosion, adding disclosures made by him led to the arrest of two of his associates -- Gauss Mohammad Khan alias “Karan Khatri” and Azhar Khan alias “Azhar Khalifa” -- on March 9 and Asif Iqbal alias “Rocky”. All of them are residents of Uttar Pradesh.