JK News Today/ Agencies
New Delhi, Mar 30: Alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Shabir Ahmed Lone, who is said to be the handler of the recently busted LeT module in Metro Poster Case, has been arrested by a Delhi police Special Cell team.
Lone’s name had come up as the handler of a LeT module comprising “highly radicalised operatives” in a multistate counter-terror operation which was busted by the Delhi police back in February. Originally from Jammu and Kashmir, Lone was said to be based out of Bangladesh.
The police said that a written complaint was lodged on February 8 by a CISF shift in charge at the Supreme Court Metro station in Delhi regarding pro-Pakistan and pro-terror posters pasted at Janpath Metro Station. During verification, similar posters were found at multiple locations across the national capital.
What was the case?
The posters, police said, contained photographs glorifying slain alleged Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Burhan Wani and slogans such as “India Stop Genocide & Free Kashmir”. Some Urdu phrases translated to “Hum Pakistani Hain, Pakistan Hamara Hai” and “Kashmiri Ek Jutta Divas”, they said.
An FIR was registered at the Supreme Court Metro police station under Sections 152, 196 and 197 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 3 of the DPDP Act. Given the nature of the content, the case was transferred to the Special Cell, police said.
At that time, the Delhi police had arrested eight operatives, most of them Bangladeshi nationals who had reportedly entered India illegally on forged identities.
On February 15, a raid was conducted at Majherpara, Hatiara Gote in Kolkata, leading to the arrest of Umar Faruk, 31, a resident of Malda, West Bengal, and Robiul Islam, 31, a Bangladeshi national from Thakurgaon district. Questioning them led to a larger network in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu. On February 21, six Bangladeshi nationals from Bogura, Mohammed Mizanur Rehman, 32, Mohammed Sefayat Hossain, 34, Mohammed Zahidul Islam, 40, Mohammed Liton, 40, Mohammed Uzzal, 27, and Umar Faruk, 32, were arrested.
Police said that preliminary interrogation revealed that Umar Faruk came in contact with Shabir Ahmad Lone in March 2025 and was allegedly indoctrinated to spearhead LeT operations in India.
“Shabir’s plan was to use Bangladeshi nationals who had assumed Indian identities to carry out terror strikes. In December 2025, Umar was directed to conduct reconnaissance of important installations and send videos for assessment,” Additional commissioner of police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said at the time.
