Big action by Delhi Police: ISI supported terrorist module busted, Lashkar-e-Taiba handler Shabbir arrested

New Delhi. The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested Shabbir Ahmed Lone, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, from Ghazipur area. Officials gave this information on Monday. Officials described Lone as a “hardcore and highly trained terrorist” and said he had allegedly established links with handlers working on behalf of Pakistan’s intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

“Lone, known by the aliases Raja and Kashmiri, is a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. He was allegedly working as the mastermind of the module that was recently busted for putting up anti-national posters at several places in Delhi and Kolkata,” a senior police officer said. According to the official, a team of the New Delhi range of the Special Cell arrested Shabbir Ahmed Lone from Ghazipur area on Sunday night.

The officer said Lone was wanted in connection with the LeT module, which was recently involved in putting up posters near metro stations. “During the arrest, the police recovered several foreign currencies and other incriminating material from his possession. These include approximately 2,300 Bangladeshi taka, 1,400 Nepali currency, 5,000 Pakistani currency and 3,000 Indian currency,” he said.

A Nepalese SIM card has also been seized, raising suspicions of cross-border negotiations and operational coordination. “This module was being run at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI, with Lone acting as a key link between the handlers based abroad and the members working at the ground level in India,” the officer said.

Lone has a long history of involvement in terrorist activities and was earlier arrested by the Special Cell in 2007. At that time an AK-47 rifle and a hand grenade were recovered from him. He was again arrested in 2015 from Parimpora police station area of ​​Srinagar.

He also said that even during his previous arrest, Lone had come to Delhi with the intention of carrying out targeted killings. He is a highly trained terrorist who has received ‘Daura-e-Aam’ (Basic Terrorist Training) and ‘Daura-e-Khas’ (Advanced Terrorist Training) from the Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. After his release, he reportedly fled to Bangladesh and started forming a new terror network to target India.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Lone established contacts with new handlers allegedly associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. These masters, known by the code names of Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babar, were working on behalf of ISI. “Lone’s mandate was to restart terrorist activities in India by activating ‘sleeper cells’ and recruiting new members. He used Bangladesh as a base to facilitate infiltration and coordination,” the officer said.

Police said that the members had also conducted recce of many sensitive places in the country including temples and highly crowded public places. Videos of these Reiki missions were recorded and sent to the handlers sitting in Pakistan. The official said Lone had built a structured network involving foreign nationals, especially Bangladeshis, and was attempting to expand it further by recruiting new people and identifying locations for future actors.

Police said he is currently being interrogated to identify other associates, financial contacts and possible targets. Police said that possible hawala channels and cross-border financing mechanisms linked to the recovered foreign currencies are also being investigated. “Lone’s arrest is a significant breakthrough in the ongoing investigation into the Metro poster case, which had raised security concerns earlier this year,” the officer said.

In a related development, the Special Cell on February 22 had busted LeT-linked modules spread across India and arrested eight alleged terrorists, including seven Bangladeshi nationals, following coordinated raids in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The arrested people were allegedly acting on the instructions of Lone and were involved in putting up posters in support of terrorism and conducting recce of sensitive establishments.

The investigators had found that Lone was acting as their handler from Bangladesh and was actively directing their activities. “This module was formed with the aim of reviving terrorist activities in India by taking advantage of illegal immigration networks and fake identity documents,” a police source said.

The source said that these suspected terrorists were entrusted with the task of recruiting people and arranging safe havens and equipment including weapons. The crackdown in February had exposed the extensive network and laid the groundwork for tracking Lone’s activities and his eventual arrest. Further investigation is ongoing in the matter.