In a major multi-state crackdown against the ISI-backed Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) ahead of Independence Day, security agencies coordinated a multi-state operation and busted its terror syndicate by detaining 253 people from 14 states including Punjab on August 12. The security agencies used a real-time intelligence-sharing system with state police forces to thwart its plans for subversive attacks in the country. The operations were part of the ‘zero tolerance’ policy of the Centre towards cross-border terrorism.
This Pakistan-based terror syndicate is linked to grenade, IED and petrol bomb attacks and targeted killings across India. Besides other states, the syndicate has been paying local conduits in Punjab to recce police, defence and religious sites and to install CCTV cameras for espionage.
The security agencies have detained 44 persons in Punjab, 52 in Haryana and 2 each in Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir besides 51 in Delhi and the largest 62 in Uttar Pradesh.
