A Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Saturday (May 30, 2026) arrested eight persons, who are allegedly part of a module linked to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Mumbai’s criminal underworld. The module convened a group of terrorists to attack strategic locations in different parts of the country, including Delhi and Mumbai, the police said.

“Major attacks have been averted with the arrests of these individuals. We have collected evidence, including some pictures, videos, and coordinates of specific government and non-government buildings and security establishments at which these attacks were being planned,” Anil Shukla, Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, said.

The arrested individuals were allegedly connected to Munna Jhingada, an associate of Dawood Ibrahim who was sent to Bangkok in 2000 to kill Chhota Rajan, and incarcerated there, and Shahzad Bhatti, a Pakistan-based gangster. While Jhingada was in jail for 17 years in Bangkok before he was extradited back to Pakistan, Bhatti has been operating from Pakistan for the past five years, the police said.

The module came to light when, earlier this month, two individuals, Vijay, and Nitish Paswan, were arrested by the Special Cell from Pune, and Sahibganj in Jharkhand, respectively. Interrogations revealed their links to Bhatti’s network operating from Pakistan and Dubai, the police said.

“Vijay was tasked with undertaking criminal activities in various parts of the country, and executing attacks in Delhi NCR (National Capital Region),” Mr. Shukla said.

Further interrogation and technical surveillance led to the arrest on May 27 from Mumbai of two more individuals, Taoqeer Rizwan and Arbaz Khan, who were linked to ISI handlers Yahwar Khan, and Jhingada. They were recruited by Huzaifa, who is currently absconding and was functioning on behalf of Khan, Jhingada, and Bhatti.

“Scrutinising their social media accounts, we found that they had been in touch with the handlers via Instagram and WhatsApp groups, and had already formed a team for carrying out major attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, and Chandigarh,” the senior official said.

The interrogation of Rizwan and Arbaz Khan revealed that another group from Punjab was to arrive in Delhi to carry out attacks at their behest.

On Saturday, at 1 a.m., the police intercepted Manjeet Singh, Gagandeep Singh, and Harvinder Singh, all from Punjab, at the Mehrauli-Badarpur road in Delhi. “From them, we recovered four hand grenades, two Glock pistols, and 25 live cartridges. We also received other incriminating evidence, laying down the details of locations at which they were planning to attack,” Mr. Shukla said.

Interrogating them, the police found that these individuals were connected to a 66-year-old Nepali citizen, Ang Kami Lama, who had come into contact with Jhingada in the Bangkok jail. “He had been serving time in prison for the illegal sale and transportation of drugs from 2001 to 2018,” the official said.

Jhingada is suspected to be currently based in Pakistan, and had allegedly sent Lama to Delhi to provide logistics and manage finances for the attacks, the police said. “Preliminary investigation reveals the weapons were dropped by drones,” the police added.

Investigation into the role of other Nepali citizens and certain Nepali-origin nodes linked to the module is underway.