- A plot to launch terror attacks in Delhi was foiled with six arrests, the Delhi Police has said
- Targets included New Police Lines, Anand Vihar Bus Terminal, railway station, the police said
- Petrol bombs and illegal firearms were recovered near Rajghat by the Special Cell
A plot to carry out terror attacks in Delhi has been foiled with the arrest of six men, sources in the Delhi Police have said. The New Police Lines in Civil Lines, the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal and the railway station and several crowded markets were on the terrorists' target list, the Delhi Police said. The videos of these places - probably made during recce -- were found on the suspects' phones.
There are chances that these areas would have been targeted by petrol bombs. The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had recovered petrol bombs ad illegal firearms from Vijay Ghat, close to Rajghat.
The men - who were arrested from Delhi and Punjab -- were acting under the instructions of Shahzad Bhatti, an ISI handler based in Pakistan. The reconnaissance videos were sent to Shahzad Bhatti through a banned app, sources said.
The Special Cell has also retrieved social media chats between Shahzad Bhatti and the accused. In one of them, he purportedly asks one of the key arrested men - Danish alias Chand Miyan - to prepare the material and keep it safe.
Besides Bhatti, the accused were in contact with 10 other individuals, sources said. All 10 are based in Pakistan and work for Shahzad Bhatti.
The Task Force
Sources said Shahzad Bhatti had entrusted Danish - a resident of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh -- with the responsibility of conducting reconnaissance and planning attacks in Delhi. He was promised a payment of Rs 20,000 upon successful execution of the attacks.
Danish's associate Salman was responsible for recording videos of the attacks and sending them directly to Shahzad Bhatti.
Tayyab, a resident of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, was involved in the task of receiving and distributing consignments of weapons.
Zubair Khan, a resident of Modinagar, Ghaziabad, was responsible for procuring weapons from Amritsar, while Ali Fazal from Meerut was asked to handle the task of selling the weapons.
Malkit Singh from Amritsar was responsible for distributing the weapons that had arrived from Pakistan by drones.
The investigation also exposed a second module engaged in cross-border arms trafficking. Three accused were arrested from Delhi's Kalindi Kunj area, while the fourth accused was apprehended from Amritsar in Punjab.
