LOOKEAST

Prasanta Paul |

HE happens to be a terror mastermind in charge of varied modules, operating over a wide network of cities hoodwinking cops by changing communication patterns and shifting bases at the blink of an eye.

■ Lashkar–e–Taiba commander Shabbir Ahmed Lone

He kept on eluding the sleuths who laid out traps after closely monitoring his movements through multiple intelligence points and succeeded in staying out of reach and out of touch, thanks to a well–knit network that stretched beyond India’s immediate borders. Apart from recruiting young men across Delhi, Kolkata and Tamil Nadu, he used to radicalise them in a unique manner.

But luck finally betrayed him on March 30, 2026 as cops relying on solid intel finally closed in around him and nabbed him at a place in a coordinated strike close to the international border with Bangladesh.

Additional Commissioner of Police Pramod Kushwaha, ACP Lalit Negi, Inspector of Delhi Police Sunil Rajain who had been closely tracking his movements, finally surrounded him near the Bangladesh border before his escape

A dedicated task force headed by Additional Commissioner of Police Pramod Kushwaha, ACP Lalit Negi, Inspector of Delhi Police Sunil Rajain who had been closely tracking his movements, finally surrounded him near the Bangladesh border before his escape.

A little delay or miscalculation of time would have landed him in a safe zone inside Bangladesh and he would have been out of the grip of India’s formidable intelligence wing of Delhi Police.

He is none other than Lashkar–e–Taiba commander Shabbir Ahmed Lone who had smartly been evading arrest for the last couple of months even though his six other accomplices were nabbed from Kolkata and Tamil Nadu.

He came under the glare of the investigators after he successfully began transitioning his roles from an operative to a shrewd handler. Sleuths were tipped off about Lone who had then been running an LeT–linked module from a place near Dhaka

Sources speaking on a condition of anonymity conceded that Lone was ducking many a trap despite the cops keeping a close tab on his trail. It was more like a ‘cat–and–mouse–chase’ that ended in a clinical success as various wings of Delhi Police formed a team to track and hunt Lone down before he could strike again.

It was more of a combination of fragments of digital trails, intercepted signals and human intelligence that converged successfully to close the envelope of Lone who had earlier fallen to police dragnet in 2007 on terror–related charges.

Once out on bail after a decade, he managed to sneak out of the country in 2019. And since then, his life had undergone a sea change as he consistently reinvented himself.

दिल्ली पुलिस @CellDelhi की टीम ने आतंकवादी संगठन लश्कर-ए-तैयबा के एक बांग्लादेश बेस्ड हैंडलर को गिरफ्तार कर आतंक फैलाने की साजिश का पर्दाफाश किया

गाज़ीपुर इलाके से गिरफ्तार आतंकवादी हाल ही में पकड़े गए LeT मॉड्यूल का मुख्य साजिशकर्ता था, जो पाकिस्तान में बैठे हैंडलर्स के निर्देश… pic.twitter.com/aLpzCvq65p

— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) March 30, 2026

Lone’s Transformation

Shortly thereafter, he was picked up by LeT top brass to liaison between Dhaka and Islamabad. Once his indoctrination was over, investigators learnt, Lone, besides being an operative, was given an additional charge of a handler — one who was not merely participating in terror activities, but directing too.

It was then that he came under the glare of the investigators after he successfully began transitioning his roles from an operative to a shrewd handler. Sleuths were tipped off about Lone who had then been running an LeT–linked module from a place near Dhaka.

Cops who kept a close watch on him, got a breakthrough about his modus operandi. Lone was working through intermediaries to recruit individuals and mount special operations in Delhi and elsewhere from a ‘safe base’ in the neighbourhood of Kolkata.

Concern of the cops stemmed from the fact that Lone had expanded his area of operation, keeping his Bangladesh base intact though. The shifts in recent years appeared to have assumed flexible nodes originating in Pakistan that left the investigators stunned.

Lone was working through intermediaries to recruit individuals and mount special operations in Delhi and elsewhere from a ‘safe base’ in the neighbourhood of Kolkata

Investigation Leads to Vital Leaks

Parallel investigations by the Kashmir–based Counter Intelligence had already begun exposing a recruitment network operating across the Valley. Raids in Srinagar, Ganderbal and Shopian revealed a coordinated network with handlers outside India — including one name that kept appearing: Shabbir Ahmed Lone. The revelation only tightened the net.

The more the investigators probed into the network, the more information got fished out; how Lone maintained close contact with his accomplices through encrypted platforms, evading conventional channels and using trusted and layered communication.

Combination of fragments of digital trails, intercepted signals and human intelligence that converged successfully to close the envelope of Lone who had earlier fallen to police dragnet in 2007

One such accomplice, Irfan Ahmad Wani, has already been arrested. A local religious functionary on paper though, he was looking after the recruitment process in cohort with Lone. Probe is now expanding on his devices, contacts and financial trails. Because investigators have slowly been uncovering his links with such figures as Sheikh Sajjad Gul, believed to be associated with The Resistance Front (TRF), a group blamed for several recent attacks in various parts of Kashmir.

Last but not the least, sleuths are trying to zero in on another crucial factor — how the group has been using Bangladesh as its operational base, for, it leads to a second axis where layered threat persists. Now, cops have mounted an intense recalibration exercise that includes both surveillance and response. ■

Prasanta Paul served Deccan Herald as the Chief of Bureau, Calcutta for nearly two decades before switching to work with various TV channels such as Al-Jazeera, CNN, German TV and CBS. Mr. Paul who accompanied former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on his overseas tour of Singapore and other Asian countries, travelled extensively to Bhutan, Sikkim and Darjeeling besides other Northeastern states.