NIA arrests two members of ISIS sleeper cell in Pune IED case

By  Firstdespatch Desk   May 17, 2025

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two absconders, identified as members of a sleeper module of the banned ISIS terror organisation, in a 2023 case related to fabrication and testing of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Pune, Maharashtra.

The NIA, in a statement informed that the two men were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at the Mumbai International Airport Terminal 2. The two men tried to return to India from Jakarta, Indonesia, where they had been hiding out. The NIA team then took them into custody and arrested them.

The NIA also informed that the two accused had been on the run for the past over two years and also had non-bailable warrants issued against them by the NIA Special Court, Mumbai. It added that the two men, already chargesheeted along with the other arrested accused, had been engaged in assembling IEDs from a rented house in Pune. 

The Agency further added that 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.  A cash reward of 3 lakh rupees each was announced by NIA for information on the two accused. The investigations in the case are continuing.