Delhi Police on Saturday said it had arrested eight people while dismantling what it described as an ISI-backed terror unit with apparent links to the Mumbai underworld and fugitive gangster-turned-terrorist Shehzad Bhatti.
The Delhi Police Special Cell made the arrests from Delhi, Maharashtra and Jharkhand during a 17-day operation, police officials said. Investigators said they found evidence indicating a conspiracy to carry out grenade attacks and shooting operations targeting popular facilities, security institutions, and police personnel in multiple cities, especially Delhi and Mumbai.
Read also | UP ATS arrests two over alleged ISI-linked plot to target police
Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Anil Shukla said four hand grenades, two Glock pistols with 24 rounds of ammunition were recovered along with two stolen bikes and a mobile phone containing incriminating conversations with trainers based in Pakistan and Dubai. The grenades were manufactured in a Pakistani munitions factory and the pistols and cartridges were made in Pakistan. The investigation revealed that the grenades, pistols, and cartridges were “dropped by drones,” but did not specify where they were dropped.
“Among the eight arrested men was a 66-year-old Nepalese national, Lama Ang Kami, a close associate of Pakistan-based Mumbai underworld agent Munna Jingada, and a henchman of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Jingada carried out an attack on Ibrahim’s rival Chhota Rajan in Bangkok in 2000 and was arrested by Thai agencies. He remained in a Thai prison for 17 years,” Shukla said.
Senior police officers said that the New Delhi Ring (NDR) Special Cell team, while monitoring some cadres of Shahzad Bhatti network, received information that handlers of the ‘Bhatti ISI network’ in Pakistan and Dubai were planning terror attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab and Chandigarh.
Based on the inputs, 23-year-old Vijay known as the ‘shooter’ from Mirzapur was arrested from Pune on May 14. His interrogation led to the identification of his colleague Nitish Paswan, 23, who was arrested on May 17 from Sahibganj, Jharkhand. “Vijay was in regular contact with members of Bhatti network and carried out several criminal and terrorist activities in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. He was also tasked with recruiting youth to carry out terrorist activities in Delhi-the national capital,” Shukla said.
Read also | Punjab Police have busted two spy rings of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) using solar-powered surveillance
Other arrests included Tukir Rizwan Ahmed Sheikh, 27, and Sajid Mehboob Sheikh alias Arbaaz Khan, 27, from Mumbai on May 27. Both were in touch with ISI chiefs Yawar Khan and Syed Muzakir Mudassar Hussain, alias Munna Jingada.
The above-mentioned officer, who requested anonymity, said the investigation revealed that another group of three people from Punjab had arrived in Delhi to carry out attacks. Harvinder Singh, 28, Gagandeep Singh, 28, and Manjeet Singh, 23, all residents of Ludhiana, were caught on the Mehrauli-Badarpur road around 1 am on Saturday and arrested.
