Delhi terror conspiracy: 8 suspects including 7 Bangladeshis arrested; police link them to anti-India posters

Delhi Police's Special Additional Commissioner Pramod Kumar Kushwaha said the posters were the ones that were praising slain terrorist Burhan Wani and Pakistani terrorist actions. Police are also investigating the suspects' other plans to strike terror in the country.

New Delhi: Eight men with suspected links to terror outfits, including seven hailing from Bangladesh, have been arrested from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu with Delhi Police on Sunday claiming that they were behind pasting anti-India posters near metro stations eulogising terrorists.

Delhi Police's Special Additional Commissioner Pramod Kumar Kushwaha told reporters that Shabbir Ahmed Lone, who was convicted following his arrest in 2007 after he came to Delhi for 'suicide attack' to kill a politician and released in 2018-19, was their handler who was pulling the strings from Bangladesh.

He said the posters were the ones that were praising slain terrorist Burhan Wani and Pakistani terrorist actions. Police are also investigating the suspects' other plans to strike terror in the country.

The investigation started after anti-India posters were spotted on Metro pillars in Kashmere Gate on February 7 and initial probe indicated that those behind the action had returned to Kolkata from where they came.

With the Special Cell taking over the case five days later from local police, a team was sent to West Bengal from where they first arrested Umar Farooq Umar Farooq and Robil Ul Islam, a Bangladeshi national.

Kushwaha said that their interrogation and subsequent investigations led to their handler Lone, who was linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and had undergone basic and advanced terror training in Pakistan before 2007. After his release from prison, Lone took shelter in Bangladesh and reconnected with LeT.

"He reassembled his men and conducted dry runs with these men. He had posters put up in various locations. He did so not just in Delhi, but also in Kolkata on February 10. He also rented a house in Kolkata," Kushwaha said.

During investigations, he said, it also came to light that some Bangladeshi nationals presently based in Tamil Nadu were being taken back to Kolkata to involve them in terror activities.

However, six of them -- Mizanur Rahman, Mohammad Shabat, Umar, Mohammad Litan, Mohammad Shahid and Mohammad Ujjal -- working in the garment industry were arrested.