New Delhi : A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative accused of plotting attacks in India while operating out of Bangladesh has been arrested near the Delhi border. The accused, Shabbir Ahmad Lone alias Raja alias Kashmiri, is a resident of Kangan in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar district. He was arrested by Delhi Police’s Special Cell in coordination with central agencies after being on the radar for his alleged role in various terror operations.
Officials said that Lone had been based in Bangladesh, where he was handling Lashkar’s anti-India activities under the direction of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI. The arrest came days after security agencies busted a Lashkar-linked module operating across Delhi and parts of South India. Officials said Lone is a trained militant of Lashkar-e-Taiba who underwent both Daura-e-Aam (basic) and Daura-e-Khaas (advanced) training at a terror camp in Muzaffarabad. His links with the outfit’s top leadership date back nearly two decades.
At the time, officials had established his direct links with Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, as well as Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. According to officials, he later resurfaced in Bangladesh, where he allegedly rebuilt Lashkar networks and continued coordinating operations targeting India. Agencies are now interrogating Lone to map the full extent of the network, including recruitment channels, funding routes and potential targets in India.
The Delhi Police is currently in the process of questioning the eight men arrested about whether they were planning to carry out an attack on the temple or in an area with heavy footfall. Sources reported Lone has been given the task of recruiting and radicalising Bangladeshis who are illegally staying in India. He had managed to wean the eight arrested to the LeT ideology by brainwashing them.
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