Shabir Ahmed Lone: ‘Was in touch with Hafiz Saeed’: How LeT’s Shabir Ahmed Lone is linked to 8 held for plotting terror attack in India | India News
Eight people of Shabir Ahmed Lone have been arrested for being associated with terrorist module in Bangladesh
NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh-based terror module allegedly run by Shabir Ahmed Lone, an operative investigators say maintained direct contact with the senior, was recently busted by the Delhi Police. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) Commanders.Lone also contacted 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
Delhi Police on Monday said it has busted a terror module linked to Pakistan-based LeT handlers operating from Bangladesh, arrested eight suspects and averted what officials described as a “major untoward incident”.
Who is Shabir Ahmed Lone?
Investigators described Lone as a longtime Lashkar-e-Taiba associate who had been on the security agency’s radar for nearly two decades. He is a resident of Ganderbal, Kashmir, currently in Bangladesh.He was arrested in 2007 with an AK-47 rifle and grenades and was allegedly part of a planned fidayeen attack targeting a senior political leader.He spent nearly a decade in jail on terrorism charges before being released on bail in 2019. Officials say that after his release he fled to Bangladesh, where he reconnected with Lashkar-e-Taiba leadership and rebuilt his network.Special Cell Additional CP Pramod Kumar Kushwaha said, “Preliminary investigation revealed that he reconnected with the LeT leadership and re-established his organization to carry out terrorist activities.”Delhi Police sources say that Lone was running the India-based module on behalf of LeT and was in direct contact with its top commanders. His alleged contacts with Hafiz Saeed put him at the upper echelons of the group’s external operations network, investigators believe.According to investigators, Lone coordinated operations from Bangladesh through encrypted messaging platforms and intermediaries. He was tasked with recruiting and radicalizing undocumented Bangladeshi migrants in India, providing fake identity documents such as Aadhaar cards and setting up logistics bases including a rented safe house near Kolkata.Police also linked the network to anti-India posters displayed in Delhi and Kolkata, which were allegedly printed in Kolkata after Lone sent a PDF from Bangladesh.
Plan the arrest and attack of the suspect
The eight arrested suspects, hailing from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, allegedly worked in the garment sector while hiding their identities with fake documents.Security agencies are investigating whether the group planned to attack temples or other crowded places in Delhi The alert had earlier warned of possible Improvised Explosive Device (IED) strikes near the Red Fort and other high-lying areas.Authorities are also examining whether the network had any links to the November 2025 car blast near the Red Fort that killed 12 people. Lashkar-e-Taiba’s cross-border recruitment and operational network targeting India is believed to be in Bangladesh.
