New Delhi, March 31 – The arrest of Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commander, Shabbir Ahmed Lone, by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police is a major breakthrough for the agencies. Lone was planning attacks on a very large scale, and his arrest has thwarted a major plan of the terror group.
Lone was running a complex network with a pan-Indian presence. Lone had managed to establish modules across the country, ranging from Tamil Nadu to Delhi to West Bengal.
Lone, who was being handled by LeT's Sumana Babar, had managed to recruit youth from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, Malaga in West Bengal, and also from Delhi. He was targeting Bangladeshi nationals who have been living illegally in India.
To avoid suspicion, Lone would deploy those living in South India for operations in North India. The operatives that he had recruited had carried out reconnaissance of several targets. The plan was to orchestrate a series of blasts over a longer period of time.
The plot first came to light when the Delhi Police arrested six Bangladeshi nationals for posting images in support of Pakistan in New Delhi. The posters, while praising Pakistan, also hailed the slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
The investigation revealed that this was a test case, and Lone was assessing the capabilities of the individuals he had recruited.
Similarly, he had recruited Bangladeshis living illegally in West Bengal and instructed them to undertake reconnaissance missions. He had instructed the recruits to target temples in particular.
The Delhi Police, during the course of the investigation, learned that Lone had instructed reconnaissance missions to be carried out at the Gauri Shankar and Kalkaji Temples in Chandni Chowk.
The arrest of the six Bangladeshi nationals was a major setback for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. These individuals had successfully managed to put up the pro-Pakistan posters in New Delhi. The accused individuals had recorded videos of themselves putting up the posters and sent them to Lone.
In the messages that Lone sent to the recruits, he praised them and told them that they had executed a perfect job. Lone also discussed the next course of action and told the recruits to remain on standby.
Until the instructions were received, they were told to continue with their normal work at the garment factories in Tamil Nadu, the police have also learned.
Another official said that the next plan was to carry out the attack on the two temples and then take some time off before the next mission could be executed. All this while, Lone was operating from Nepal.
However, the arrests rattled the Lashkar leadership, following which Lone was told to rush to India and take stock. While he was entering India through the open border, he was arrested.
The Delhi Police and the central Intelligence agencies coordinated the operation and apprehended Lone in Ghazipur.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that while a major attack has been averted with the arrest of the module members and their boss, Lone, the focus would now be on the rest of the modules that have been set up.
The West Bengal module is the one that the agencies are currently pursuing. Officials say that there is Intelligence that many trained recruits are waiting to cross over into India through both the Nepal and Bangladesh borders.
There have been numerous inputs in recent months of the Lashkar and other terror groups attempting to carry out blasts ahead or during the elections in West Bengal and Assam.
Officials have learned that a person by the name Saidul Islam is overseeing these operations from his hideout in Bangladesh. He was the one who had helped Lone with the recruitments, and he is currently planning on sending more men to undertake attacks in West Bengal and the other Northeastern states, an official said.
The agencies are also monitoring the Hatiara area in Kolkata, as a base had been established here to oversee the West Bengal operations. This base was being used to coordinate with members of the module who are based in Malda, the official added.