On 30th March (Monday) the authorities informed that Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Shabbir Ahmad Lone, also known as Raja and Kashmiri, has been nabbed at Delhi border. He was charged with operating out of Bangladesh, running a sleep-cell network and planning assaults in India. He is a native of Kangan, which is in the Srinagar district of Jammu & Kashmir. The Special Cell of Delhi Police, working with central agencies, arrested him after he was suspected of overseeing terror operations targeting India.
Lone was heading LeT’s anti-India campaigns in Bangladesh, as directed by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was tasked with enlisting Bangladeshi citizens, including infiltrators in India, to carry out terror attacks while concealing Pakistan’s role. Officials indicated that he had been disseminating anti-national propaganda. He put offensive and anti-India posters in a number of places to create unrest and manipulate public sentiment.
In 2007, Lone was taken into custody with a sizable cache of weapons and ammo, including grenades and an AK-47 rifle by the special cell on suspicion of terrorism. The authorities had determined that he had direct ties to both Hafiz Saeed and LeT co-founder Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
However, Lone was released on bail in 2018 after which he escaped to Bangladesh a year later and founded a terror cell there. According to officials, he is a skilled Lashkar member who completed both basic and advanced training at a terror camp in Muzaffarabad. He has been connected to the organisation’s top leadership for almost 20 years.
Lone’s function suggests a cross-border command structure with agents stationed in Bangladesh and handlers in Pakistan. He is currently being questioned by agencies to figure out the entire network, including financial sources, recruitment methods and possible targets in India.
A Lashkar-affiliated module operating throughout Delhi and portions of South India was discovered by security forces a few days prior to the fresh development. According to reports, the perpetrators, comprising Bangladeshis, attempted to disseminate propaganda in addition to laying operational footing by hanging posters against the country at various places in Delhi and Kolkata. The intruders were reportedly living in India under false pretences.
The Special Cell followed tip-offs and conducted searches in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in February. Mobile phones, forged identity documents, bank cards and pro-Pakistan posters were among the incriminating items found during the raids. Videos demonstrating reconnaissance of Delhi’s sensitive areas, such as the Red Fort and religious monuments, were also unveiled by officials.
The agencies are also pursuing other terror kingpins with ties to Delhi. They are also making a concerted effort to find Sheikh Sajjad Gul, who was detained in Tihar for more than ten years after being found guilty in 2003. He was captured at Delhi’s Nizamuddin station in 2002. Gul was released in 2017 and then fled to Pakistan, where he is currently leading LeT’s front “The Resistance Front (TRF)” which has been responsible for several terror attacks, including the Pahalgam massacre.
