• Source:JND
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Delhi Police's Special Cell on Monday arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Shabir Ahmed Lone from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh as it busted a major terror module. Lone served as a handler of the LeT module in the Metro Poster Case for which eight individuals, including seven Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian were apprehended on February 22, 2026. He was allegedly working as a sleeper cell member and was behind the anti-India posters pasted at multiple locations in Delhi.

Lone was residing in India with the aim to identify and hire new terror recruits, while also searching for new locations to set up bases. Addressing the media on the latest arrest in the case, Additional CP of Special Cell, Pramod Singh Kushwaha said, "Shabir Ahmed Lone is a hardcore terrorist. Having established a base in Bangladesh and utilising that route, he had set up a sort of launching pad in Kolkata, from which he intended to operate."

The police recovered 2,300 units of Bangladeshi Taka (Bangladeshi currency), 1,400 units of Nepalese currency, 5,000 units of Pakistani Rupee, 3,000 units of Indian currency from Lone. He also had a Nepalese SIM card in his possession.

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Who Is Shabir Ahmed Lone?

Shabir Ahmad Lone, who is also know as Raja or Kashmiri, is a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist trained in Pakistan and operating in India, with his base in Bangladesh. A resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, the arrested handler was trained in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). According to police sources, cited by PTI, Shabir Ahmed Lone had links to LeT co-founders Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who were the masterminds behind the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attack. 

Lone has been arrested in India twice before in 2007 and 2015. He was first arrested by the Special Cell in 2007 when an AK-47 rifle and grenades were recovered from him. "He was subsequently convicted in that case. He had arrived to carry out targeted killings. He is a highly trained terrorist from Pakistan," said Kushwaha.

Lone was again arrested in 2015, at the Parimpora Police Station jurisdiction in Srinagar, where AK-47 weapons were recovered from his possession. He remained incarcerated in the Tihar Jail till 2018.

"After he was released, Shabir Ahmed Lone fled to Bangladesh and began setting up a new operational module; the eight individuals who were recently arrested were apprehended as part of this very module's network," said Kushwaha.

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"While in Bangladesh, he came into contact with a new set of handlers. These new handlers—whose code names were Abu Huzaifa and Sumama Babar—were operatives affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba. They operate on behalf of Pakistan's ISI, and his task was to resume carrying out terrorist activities within India," he said.

How Shabir Lone Executed His Plan In India

The LeT operatives initially set up a base in Kolkata after which they pasted poster across the West Bengal capital and in the national capital, Delhi. The idea behind the poster campaign was to assess the operational capabilities of their team, the police officer said.

"They also conducted reconnaissance missions at numerous sensitive locations across the country, including various temples and other high-footfall public areas. They even transmitted video footage of these reconnaissance missions back to Pakistan," said Kushwaha.

How Police Busted LeT Module Led By Shabir Ahmed Lone

The terror module came to light after pro-Pakistan and pro-terror posters, featuring slain terrorist Burhan Wani, came up at multiple locations in Delhi. Kushwaha credited the Metro Police for "treating the posters with the utmost seriousness", which led to coordinated raids in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Terrorists Umar Farooq and Rabiyul Islam were identified as key figures behind the module.

"A commendable initiative undertaken by the Metro Police at the time was that they treated the posters with the utmost seriousness; they successfully identified Umar Farooq as a key figure. Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Special Cell, and the Special Cell team proceeded to arrest eight individuals—seven of whom were Bangladeshi nationals—followed by the recent arrest of Shabir Ahmed Lone."

The Special Cell team, which apprehened Lone, was led Praveen Tripathi, who has been newly appointed as DCP of the Special Cell's New Delhi Range. The team comprised Inspector Sunil and Inspector Dheeraj Mehlawat.


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