New Delhi: Funding for the 2022 Coimbatore suicide bombing was allegedly arranged through a fake COVID-19 vaccination certificate scam, Enforcement Directorate officials said.
“Terror operatives linked to ISIS generated and provided fake vaccine certificates to individuals who did not want to undergo actual vaccination,” the ED said.
A self-radicalised ISIS operative, Jamesha Mubeen, blew himself up near the Sangameshwarar temple in Coimbatore, October 2022. The case was subsequently handed over to the federal anti-terror probe agency, the NIA.
The NIA’s investigation revealed that Jamesha Mubeen carried out the suicide bombing using a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) fitted into a modified Maruti car.
“He had died in the incident, and charges against him were thus abated. Mubeen had pledged allegiance to ISIS’s self-proclaimed Caliph, Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, and aimed to target non-believers as part of his extremist ideology,” officials said.
Probe revealed before suicide bombing the accused had held meetings at the Viyyur High-Security Prison and the Sathyamangalam Reserve Forest to plan the conspiracy.
“Their objective was to avenge the imprisonment of their leader, Mohammed Azharuddin, who had been arrested by the NIA from Coimbatore in 2019 for promoting violent Salafi-Jihadi ideology,” officials said
On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate raided 16 locations across three states in connection with a terror-funding case linked to the 2022 Coimbatore blast. The ED said it had registered a money laundering case and was probing how the accused, including suicide bomber Jamesha Mubeen, received funds.
ED officials carried out searches in Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The ED’s case stems from FIRs registered by the NIA.
The ED has also found that suspected illicit donations and investments were routed through Kovai Arabic College. The educational institution has been under the NIA’s scanner since 2022. The Kovai Arabic Educational Association (KAEA) has been arraigned as an accused in a supplementary chargesheet filed by the NIA.
The society and the accused have been charged under various provisions of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act through the supplementary chargesheet.
The NIA has chargesheeted Jameel Basha, the principal of Madras Arabic College which arose from the investigation into the October 2022 Coimbatore car bomb blast.
Fourteen of the 18 accused in the Coimbatore blast case were students of Kovai Arabic College, which functioned under the KAEA society.
Investigations revealed that radical sermons were disseminated through online Arabic-language classes conducted on platforms such as Zoom, WhatsApp and Telegram, also throughregular classroom sessions where Jameel Basha’s live or pre-recorded lectures were broadcast.
“Investigation further revealed that 12 accused persons in the bomb blast case, including suicide bomber Jamesha Mubeen, had attended sessions at Kovai Arabic College through online or offline modes,” the ED said.
The investigation further revealed that Jameel Basha indoctrinated Jamesha Mubeen with Salafi-Jihadi ideology and conspired with him to carry out the terror attack in support of ISIS