Mumbai: ISIS sympathiser who discussed terror plot arrested

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a city-based software engineer, who admired the middle-east terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, for allegedly conspiring to blow up US establishments here including a school.
Anees Ansari (24) who worked at a multi-national software company was apprehended from his office in suburban Andheri and produced before a court yesterday which remanded him in police custody till October 26, an ATS official said today.
The online chats of Ansari, whose office job involved designing navigation maps, hinted at a plot to target US establishments including a school in suburban Bandra, the official said.

Ansari was booked under section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) read with 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code, and relevant sections of Information Technology Act.
He sympathised with ISIS fighters and described, in his online conversations, the Americans as tormentors. ATS also seized his computers, a mobile phone, and has obtained 'mirror images' to extract the data.
"Our team that keeps a close watch on online posts sometime ago got the wind of his shady activities which suggested that he had been chatting with two persons based in UK and Australia who have been indoctrinated to believe in the extremist ideologies," the ATS official said.

The online discussions about a plan to target an American school in the city alerted the ATS, which led to his arrest.