The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has claimed that they have recovered a chemical called triacetone triperoxide (TATP) from the house of an Islamic State (IS) suspect, who was detained on Wednesday. An official said the TATP was the most preferred explosive of the IS and the chemical was also used by the Paris suicide bombers last year.
The ‘triacetone triperoxide’ was recovered from the house of one of the IS suspects, Habeeb Mohammad. An NIA official said that the TATP can be easily assembled from chemicals available in the market.
NIA officials said it was the group’s leader, Mohammad Ibrahim Yazdani (32), who had tasked Habeeb to prepare the improvised explosive device (IED) at his house. Officials added that TATP was the most preferred explosive of the IS and was also used by the Paris suicide bombers last year.
An NIA official said Mohammad, a school dropout who was dealing in computer hardware, had partially assembled the “high-grade granule chemical” after experimenting with it in a large vessel. A large number of nails, probably meant to be used as shrapnel, were also recovered from his house.
During the investigation it was also found that the accused had raised Rs 1.5 lakh through personal contributions and the money was mostly used for buying explosives and weapons. Officials added that so far, they have not been able to ascertain the source of Rs 15 lakh recovered from Yazdani’s house.
The agency said though the group was under surveillance from the last three months, the immediate trigger for the arrests were the phone conversation between the accused which hinted that they were planning to carry out terror strikes at religious places and government buildings.
On Wednesday, the NIA busted IS module in Hyderabad, 5 out of 11 suspects, were produced in the NIA court Thursday and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
