In a joint operation, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism team (ATS) and Thane Rural Police fell on Monday the property of convicted terrorist Saquib Abdul Hamid Nochan and his employee in Padgha Village.
The extensive search was aimed at 20 locations, including the residence of Nachan, a former member of the Islamic Movement of the Forbidden Students of India (Simi), who was convicted of planning terrorist attacks in India in 1997 and for his involvement in two bouncers in Mumbai in 2002 and 2003.
Authorities launched the operation after inputs that Nachan and his close employees encourage local residents to provide provocative speeches and are reportedly trying to breathe new life into anti-national activities. The police also suspect that the group came out a larger conspiracy, possibly including a murder plot.
The ATS acted according to these information and obtained a judicial order and launched coordinated raids in the Padgha area from 2.30 a.m. with the support of Thane Rural Police. The operation went well after 3 p.m. and concerned the deployment of nearly 300 employees.
During the search query, officials seized mobile phones, swords, axes, suspicious ownership documents and other offensive materials that are suspected of promoting terrorism and radicalization. Mobile phones from the family members and employees of Nachan were also seized for forensic research.
The performance comes after the recent terror attack of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, who has intensified concern about domestic networks that are reportedly protecting or helping anti-national elements.
Who is Saquib Nochan?
Saquib Nochan is a key figure in various terror cases in the past. He was an active member of Simi, who has been prohibited by the Indian government since 2019 under illegal activities (Prevention) Act.
He was convicted of terror attacks in India in 1997, and the Bombai Bomb Bomb from 2002 and 2003, before he was released in 2017 after his sentence.
After the release, ISIS is reportedly joined and the Maharashtra ISIS module has led. He gave “Bayath” (Oath of Trouw) to those who joined his terror module and declared Borivali Village as “Al Sham” – a liberated zone.
In December 2023, Nachan, his son SHAMIM and 14 others were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). A large cache of weapons, ammunition, sharp weapons and significant amounts of cash were seized during those raids.
Borivali Village has increasingly become a terror hotspot, with various earlier arrests under different terror modules. The ATS has now started the process of registering a formal case and further research is underway.
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