Chennai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at the offices of the SDPI, Popular Front and Thowheed Jamaath in Tamil Nadu on Thursday.
The NIA team from Kerala conducted the raids in regions, including Kumbakonam and Karaikkal.
The searches were held based on the information provided by Palakkad native Riyas Aboobacker, who was arrested recently.
Riyas had said that Rashid Abdulla, suspected to have joined the Islamic State (IS), had made plans to carry out blasts in Kerala during the New Year Celebrations similar to the Sri Lanka Easter bombings.
Riyas has been remanded till May 29 by the NIA court in Kochi.
The IS had reportedly planned to carry out attacks at tourist centres and places of worship. Rashid Abdulla, a native of Padanna in Kasaragod, had considerable role in these plans, it was suspected.
In a video released one-and-half years ago, Rashid had proclaimed to carry out explosions at places of worship and sabotage the rail networks. A probe into the video led the NIA to the link between Riyas Aboobacker and Rashid.
The NIA had seized mobile phones and IS videos, including that of Rashid, during a raid at Riyas' home.
Rashid, believed to be in Afghanistan, was constantly in touch with Riyas via social media, reports said. Though Rashid had made plans to carry out attacks in cities, including Kochi, he did not receive enough support, Riyas told the NIA officers.
Meanwhile, three Kasaragod natives were questioned by the NIA and let off. The NIA plans to continue the search for those with links to the IS in the state.
Riyas Aboobacker was arrested from Kerala after he disclosed to NIA investigators that he has been following speeches and videos of Hashim, a radical Tamil-speaking cleric who is believed to have masterminded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka which left 253 people dead and over 500 injured.
The 29-year-old informed the NIA officials that he has been following Hashim for more than a year and has also followed the speeches of Zakir Naik, an absconding Indian Islamic preacher and the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation.
The suspect, NIA said, revealed during his interrogation that he had been in online contact with an absconding suspect Abdul Rashid Abdulla for a long time and has been following his audio clips including the clip which he had circulated on social media platform instigating others to carry out terror attacks in India.
