Aizawl : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday secured the conviction and sentencing of two members of the proscribed Bangladeshi terror outfit, Ansal-al-Islam, over a conspiracy to unleash terrorist attacks in India.

The accused have been identified as Bangladeshi nationals, Mahmud Hassan alias Shariful Hassan and Mohamad Sayad Hussain alias Mohamad Sa’ad Hussain alias Sohan Molla alias Shihab Hossain. The NIA Special Court, Aizawl, Mizoram, has sentenced both to imprisonment of five years each, along with a fine of Rs 10,000 or one month in default, after finding them guilty under various provisions of the IPC, Foreigners Act, and UA(P) Act. The men had illegally entered India and had been staying in various places on fake Indian identity documents, such as Aadhar cards, etc.

They were chargesheeted on January 23, 2020, following investigations by the NIA, which took over the case in September 2019. NIA investigations in the case RC-11/2019/NIA-GUW revealed that they had aided and abetted a conspiracy hatched by Ansar-al-Islam, which claimed to be the Bangladesh wing of Al-Qaeda, for the commission of terrorist acts.

The agency unraveled its roles in the conspiracy through the analysis of various digital documents, including incriminating audio and inspirational speeches to promote Jihad, as well as images of handwritten details of bomb-making, among other seizures.

A total of 11 mobile phones and 16 SIM cards had been seized from the two men. Mahmud Hassan, roped into the conspiracy by one Abdul Wadud, operated under guidance from his handler Munir.

Photographs of important public and religious places in Bengaluru recovered from his mobile phone showed that he had conducted a recce of the same. Mohamad Sayad Hussain used to shift around frequently on directions from his handler Bashir Ahmed and disguise his profession to conceal his identity and avoid detection by police and security personnel, as per the NIA investigations.