Delhi police on Sunday claimed to have busted a terror module linked to the Lashkar-e-Toiba and funded by Pakistani spy agency ISI, and arrested eight suspects including seven Bangladeshis and a Malda native from Tamil Nadu and Bengal.

The Bangladeshis were staying in India with forged Aadhaar cards, and the module was surveying spots in Delhi and elsewhere for terror strikes under the directions of a Bangladesh-based Kashmiri handler, additional commissioner (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said.

The first two arrests came on February 15 from a hideout at Majherpara in Hatiara, near New Town, Calcutta. The other six were picked up on Saturday from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, where they worked in three garment factories.

Kushwah said their handler Shabir Ahmad Lone’s assignment was to recruit Bangladeshis living illegally in India into terrorism, for which he received ISI funds.

The arrests come just ahead of the Bengal elections, where the BJP’s key plank has been the alleged “infiltration” of the state by Bangladeshi Muslims, their illegal entry purportedly facilitated with fake documents issued by local authorities.

On Saturday, Delhi police had sounded a high alert based on intelligence about a possible terror strike near the Red Fort.

A joint operation by the Delhi and Tamil Nadu police nabbed six Bangladeshi suspects — Md Sefayat Hossain, 34, Mizanur Rehman, 32, Umar, 32, Md Liton, 40, Zahidul Islam, 40, and Md Uzzal, 27 — Kushwah said.

Umar Faruk, 31, from Aswin Tola in Malda and Robiul Islam, 31, from Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh had earlier been arrested from Calcutta, apparently in an unassisted raid by the Delhi police.

Officers said Lone was from Kangan village in Srinagar district.

Lone had been arrested by the Delhi police in 2007 with a cache of weapons, including AK-47s and grenades, and served time in Tihar till 2018.

At the time, Lone had direct links with Hafiz Saeed, head of the Jamat-Ut-Dawa (a Lashkar front), and his deputy Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi, the prime accused in the 26/11 attacks, they said.

“Lone later entered Bangladesh illegally to revive the (Lashkar’s) terror network in India and build sleeper cells with Bangladeshi operatives in this country,” Kushwah said.

Lone was trained at Lashkar’s Muzaffarabad camp,he added.

Sources said the police got on the trail of the suspects after “Free Kashmir” posters appeared at several Delhi Metro stations during the AI summit, and at unidentified locations in Calcutta.

They said the eight suspects were in touch with people in multiple states through encrypted apps. All eight have been brought to Delhi for questioning.

At least 16 SIM cards have been recovered from them along with “pro-Pakistan and pro-terror” posters, 10 mobile phones containing “incriminating material”, 25 credit and debit cards, Bangladeshi passports and other identity cards, the sources claimed.

“Umar Faruk has revealed he came in contact with Lone last March and was indoctrinated. Lone appointed him to spearhead Lashkar operations in India,” Kushwah said.

Last December, Lone instructed Umar to carry out recces of “important places in India”, he said.

“He directed Umar to send videos after the recce and asked him to visit him (Lone) in Bangladesh for further directions. He tasked him to recruit more Bangladeshis residing illegally in India,” Kushwah said. “Umar rented a hideout in Calcutta.”

Lone also directed Umar to arrange weapons, he said.

On February 6, Umar and Robiul flew to Delhi from Calcutta via Patna. On February 7 night, they pasted posters at 10 locations in Delhi and left for Calcutta by train the next day, Kushwah said.

“They shot videos of themselves affixing the posters and sent these to Lone, who congratulated them and asked them to affix these posters in Calcutta, too,” he said.

Another of Lone’s Bangladeshi accomplices, Saidul Islam, who is now in a foreign country, facilitated his illegal entry into Bangladesh and arranged a hideout for him, Kushwah said.