Coimbatore man arrested for being friends with Sri Lanka Easter attack mastermind: Details Inside!

Ever since the Easter Sunday blast in Sri Lanka has shocked the nation, countries have gone on high alert. According to India Today reports, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out searches at seven locations in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore  city over a suspected link between an Islamic State (IS) modules in Coimbatore and Sri Lanka.

Following which, one suspect has been arrested by the probe agency. The man who was arrested was Facebook friends Zahran Hashim, the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday suicide bomber.

India Today further reports that, the arrested person has been identified as 32-year-old Mohammed Azarudeen, who had also been sharing radical content attributed to Zahran Hashim over the social media. Mohammed Azarudeen is the owner of a tour and travel company in Coimbatore. He is said to be have befriended Zahran Hashim, the man believed to be responsible for multiple bombings which killed over 250 people in Sri Lanka.

The prime accused Mohammed Azarudeen has been the leader of the Coimbatore IS module and has been maintaining the Facebook page "KhilafahGFX", through which he had been propagating the ideology of IS, says India Today.

The raids come shortly after an NIA team visited Sri Lanka earlier this month in connection with two Indian IS modules with links in Sri Lanka.

Media reports state that during the searches, digital devices including 14 mobile phones, 29 SIM cards, 10 pen drives, three laptops, six memory cards, four hard disc drives, one internet dongle and 13 CDs/ DVDs besides one dagger, one electric baton, 300 air-gun pellets and a large number of incriminating documents and few pamphlets of Popular Front of India and Social Democratic Party of India, both under the scanner of security agencies, have been seized from the houses and workplaces of the accused persons.

However, top sources told India Today TV, the current raids pertain to a new FIR registered in May end with regard to the IS module.

The raids which began at 6:00 am were carried out early Wednesday morning at seven locations in Coimbatore. An FIR was registered against seven persons including the main accused Mohammed Azarudeen. The others have been identified as Akram Sindhaa (26), Y Shiek Hidayathullah (38), Abubacker M (29), Saddam Hussain A (26) and Ibrahim alias Shahin Shah (28).

They are believed to have been recruiting youth for carrying out terrorist attacks in South India especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, reports India Today.

Currently, accused persons are being questioned regarding the incriminating materials seized during the searches.