New Delhi: Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Shabbir Lone (43), an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler operating from Bangladesh, in East Delhi’s Ghazipur, Monday while he was planning to recruit like-minded individuals for LeT in India.
The Special Cell said that, in February 2026, it busted a module—involving Bangladeshi nationals employed as garment factory workers in Kolkata and Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur—where Bangladeshi labourers were illegally brought into India with forged Aadhaar cards and tasked with putting up “pro-Pakistan” and “pro-terror” posters at metro stations in Delhi and Kolkata.
On 2 February, the CISF shift-in-charge affixed a written complaint to Delhi Police, regarding ‘pro-Pakistan’ and ‘pro-terror’ posters affixed by unknown individuals at the Janpath metro station. During inquiry and verification, similar posters were found at a few other locations in Delhi, including the Kashmere Gate metro station. The posters had photos idolising Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative Burhan Wani and others.
Police sources said one of the posters read, “India stop genocide and free Kashmir.” Another read, “Hum Pakistani hain, Pakistan humara hai, and Kashmir ek jut-ta divas.”
A total of eight people were arrested.
During their interrogation, the name of Bangladesh-based LeT handler Shabbir Lone came up.
Investigation revealed that Shabbir—after eight alleged LeT operatives were arrested—was tasked by his handlers in Pakistan to radicalise and recruit more youths for LeT in India. For this purpose, Shabbir entered India via the Nepal border and was making clandestine efforts to radicalise and recruit youth for LeT, Additional Police Commissioner (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwah said at a Monday press conference.
Acting on a tip-off, the cell arrested Shabbir at 10.30 pm on 29 March.
Who is Shabir?
Citing inputs from central agencies, Kushwah said that Shabbir Lone entered India through the Nepal border and was preparing to recruit like-minded individuals for LeT in India based on directions from his Pakistan-based LeT handlers, code-named Abu Huzaifa, Sumama Babar, and Abdul Rehman.
“Shabbir was operating from Bangladesh and had entered Nepal illegally. Thereafter, he re-entered India through the Indo-Nepal border. Shabbir was also in contact with Tehrik-Ul-Mujahideen commander Abu Talha and a UAPA-designated terrorist Asif Dar,” he said.
Police recovered 2,300 Bangladeshi Taka, 5,000 Pakistani Rupees, 3000 Indian Rupees, and 1,400 Nepalese Rupees. He carried a bag with two pairs of clothes and an Aadhaar card.
Police said that Shabbir was the main handler of the recently busted Lashkar-e-Taiba module, operating out of Bangladesh. Originally from Kangan in district Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir, Shabbir belonged to a middle-class family. He completed his studies up to Class 8 and completed a two-year Islamic Madrasa course at Salafia Arabic College, Batmalu.
Investigators said that he has two wives, one son and one daughter. “In the year 2004-2005, his locality was frequently visited by LeT terrorists, namely Abu Huzaifa, Abu Bakar, and Faisal, for food and other logistics support. Abu Huzaifa had recruited him in the LeT cadre during that time. In the year 2016, he was arrested along with Sajjad Gul in an Arms Act case, PS Parimpora, J&K, with the recovery of five live rounds of AK-47. His co-accused Sajjad Gul, after being released from the case, shifted to Pakistan, and is currently operating ‘The Resistance Front’, a LeT offshoot,” Kushwah said.
Police said Shabbir, during sustained interrogation, revealed that he reconnected with Abu Huzaifa in 2016 through encrypted apps and started radicalising and recruiting youths into the LeT cadre.
Abu Huzaifa, police added, introduced Shabbir to Pakistan-based LeT commander Sumama Babar through an encrypted app. Sumama Babar was allegedly responsible for radicalising, motivating, and recruiting youth in India, primarily in the Kashmir Valley, into terrorist ranks via different social media apps.
In 2025, Sumama Babar allegedly asked Shabbir to recruit Bangladeshis and Indian youth from states/UTs other than Jammu and Kashmir to conduct terrorist operations in India. Shabir shifted to Gurugram, where he recruited Umar Farukh, co-accused in the poster case mentioned above.
In March 2025, Shabbir, along with his wife and family, crossed the Indo-Bangla border and set up a launching pad in Saidpur, Bangladesh, police said. Although already married, he remarried a local Bangladeshi woman to meet with the local populace.
“The anti-national posters pasted in Delhi and Kolkata were sent to Shabbir Lone by Sumama Babar. These posters were being pasted to test the operational capabilities of new recruits for carrying out terror activities. The posters were pasted by Malda-based Umar Farukh and new recruit Robi ul Islam, a Bangladeshi national,” police said.
The duo has also conducted reconnaissance of heavy-footfall areas, particularly of commercial and religious significance. To clandestinely and effectively carry out terror activities, a local base for the module was set up in the area of Hathi Yara Gothe, Kolkata.
Shabbir has been sent to five-day police custody by the Patiala House Court.
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Encrypted communication network
On 26 March, Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) conducted extensive searches at multiple locations across the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Shopian, and it led them to an alleged terrorist recruitment module operating in coordination with handlers from across the Line of Control (LoC) and in connivance with a network based in Bangladesh, officials said.
“During the course of investigation, it emerged that the module was being handled by a Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, Shabbir Lone, originally hailing from Kangan, in Ganderbal district of Kashmir, who operates under multiple aliases including Raju and Zafar Saddique,” a statement released by CIK said.
Further, the CIK statement said, “…the handler is highly radicalised and trained, having undergone structured arms training (Daura-e-Aam and Daura-e-Khas) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Shabbir initially worked as an over-ground worker for a terrorist outfit in the late 1990s before joining terrorist organisation LeT in the early 2000s.”
He later infiltrated India via the Bangladesh border and remained actively involved in terror-related activities, including conspiracy in high-profile attacks, the statement said.
After facing legal proceedings in India in the past, Shabbir exfiltrated to Bangladesh, where he has since been operating and coordinating terrorist recruitment and network expansion, according to the CIK statement.
The CIK further claimed that during investigations, it was further revealed that Shabbir Lone was in close touch with senior leadership of proscribed terrorist organisations and played a key role in reviving cross-border terror modules, including those recently unearthed in different parts of the country.
From Bangladesh, he allegedly continued to direct operations through a network of associates and over-ground workers, remaining the most wanted terrorist operating from a foreign land.
Earlier, CIK arrested one of his close associates, Irfan Ahmad Wani, 45, a resident of Heerpura, Shopian, who was working as a religious functionary at a local mosque. Investigation revealed that Wani was in continuous contact with Shabbir and other alleged terrorists based in Pakistan and Afghanistan through encrypted messaging platforms. He was actively engaged in facilitating recruitment, radicalisation, and logistical support at the local level, the statement said.
“The investigation has further revealed that the module was using encrypted communication platforms and other digital means to maintain secrecy and coordinate with handlers across borders,” it said.
Additional CP Pramod Kushwah said that when Shabbir Lone was arrested in 2007, he had direct links with Hafiz Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and his deputy Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
“Shabbir was a trained militant of LeT, and currently, he was handling India-bound operations of LeT, while being based in Bangladesh,” Kushwah said. “He also undertook Daura-e-Aam (basic terror training) and Daura-e-Khaas (advanced terror training) from the Muzaffarabad LeT camp.”
Sources in the Special Cell added that Shabbir was backed and funded by ISI to “recruit Bangladeshi youth, residing illegally in India, for planning terror plots”.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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