Muzaffarabad training to Dhaka operations: 2007 fidayeen plot accused resurfaces as LeT handler behind 2026 Delhi ‘test task’

NEW DELHI: In the summer of 2007, sleuths of Delhi Police's special cell at Lodhi Colony were alerted about Lashkar-e-Taiba's Bangladesh-based ‘launching commander' Abu al-Qama recruiting a man named Shabbir Ahmed Lone from Srinagar to carry out a fidayeen attack in the capital. A high-profile politician was supposedly the target.

In July that year, the cops, tipped off about Shabbir's arrival near a fountain in Chandni Chowk, apprehended him from a restaurant.


A raid at his hideout in Azadpur led to the recovery of grenades, arms and ammunitions besides $280 and Rs 1 lakh in cash that he had received through hawala. The grenades were later destroyed in a controlled explosion carried out by National Security Guard (NSG).

Despite facing a money laundering case registered against him by Enforcement Directorate (ED) on top of a case filed by the special cell, Shabbir remained behind bars till 2019, when a court gave him bail in the ED case after observing that personal liberty was of precious value to the Constitution, and a person should be presumed to be innocent till he is proved guilty after facing trial. Shabbir went off the radar thereafter.

Fast forward to 2026. Shabbir is back on the agency's radar. This time, he has turned out to be the handler of the suspects who carried out the "test task" in Delhi by affixing provocative posters. He exploited the political turmoil in Dhaka and setup a LeT cell there, leaving Indian agencies alarmed.

Shabbir seems more focused and determined this time. He underwent daura-e-aam — basic training in using small arms and grenades for 21 days — besides a three-month special training (daura-e-khas) in handling AK rifles, rocket launchers, improvised explosive devices and light machine guns. He also learnt how to indoctrinate youths during daura-e-sufa (ideological training) at LeT's Muzaffarabad camp.

Operating from the safety of Bangladesh and backed and funded by Pakistan's ISI, Shabbir now has a specific goal: radicalise Bangladeshi youth to carry out terror attacks in India.

At the time of his arrest in 2007, investigators had found evidence of his links with Lahskar's leadership, including Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

A probe led by ACP Lalit Mohan Negi and inspectors Sunil Rajain and Dheeraj identified Saidul Islam, an accomplice of Shabbir. This Bangladeshi national played a critical role in facilitating Lone's illegal entry into Bangladesh and arranging his logistics and hideouts there.

He was also the primary link who provided the details of the Tamil Nadu-based group to Shabbir and Umar Faruk, ensuring that the disparate modules could be coordinated from a single command point.

This time, Shabbir first indoctrinated Faruk and appointed him to spearhead LeT operations within India. The former's strategic vision was to utilise Bangladeshi nationals who could blend into the local population by assuming Indian identities, thereby evading the scrutiny Kashmiri or Pakistani operatives typically attract. A few illegal migrants working in the garment industry were recruited and asked to bring others onboard by luring them with money and promise of a better life.

The dismantling of this terror cell is being viewed by Indian security agencies as significant, as it effectively severs a revived terror pipeline that was being laid from across the border in Bangladesh. Hunt for the absconding members of this module is underway.