Maharashtra ATS Launches Massive Crackdown On Cross-Border Gangs, Unmasks Shahzad Bhatti’s Alleged ‘Freelance’ Terror-Crime Module

Mumbai, May 13: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday conducted coordinated raids at more than 40 locations across the state in a major crackdown targeting individuals allegedly linked to a Pakistan-based organised crime and digital recruitment network connected to gangster Shahzad Bhatti and the Dogar Gang.

The high-intensity operation, which began in the early hours of Wednesday, covered around 10 locations across Mumbai, including Santacruz East, Andheri East, Ghatkopar East, and Malad. Raids were also carried out at nearly 19 locations across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, including Thane, Kalyan, Nalasopara, and Mira Road.

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The statewide crackdown further extended to Pune, Nagpur, Akola, Nanded, Malegaon, Nashik, Kolhapur, Sangli, Jalgaon, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

ATS questions 57 persons over alleged links

According to ATS officials, the raids targeted individuals allegedly in contact with the Bhatti syndicate.Investigation revealed that the syndicate network has been using digital platforms to radicalise and recruit local youth and other individuals for organised criminal and possible terror-linked activities.

Officials said around 57 persons are currently being questioned for allegedly maintaining direct or indirect links with Bhatti-linked syndicates through Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp groups, encrypted applications, and other online networks. Investigators also found that several online gaming applications were allegedly being used as communication and networking platforms to establish contact, build trust, and recruit potential operatives.

According to investigators, several persons under scrutiny allegedly functioned as online associates, facilitators, or support elements within the syndicates’ digital ecosystem. Sources said the operation was part of a broader strategy aimed at neutralising the growing threat of local youth being recruited and influenced by cross-border gangster syndicates.

Security agencies believe such online ecosystems are being systematically used by Bhatti and his network to target vulnerable individuals across different age groups, including unemployed youth, working professionals, and middle-aged persons, with promises of money, protection, quick financial gains, and foreign connections. Officials alleged that online content glorifying gang culture, violence, luxury lifestyles, and a projected “gangster lifestyle” was being used to influence and groom recruits for organised criminal activities, including extortion, arms trafficking, target killings, and possible terror-linked operations in India. Investigators are also probing whether local criminal elements and smaller gangs were gradually being absorbed into a larger cross-border organised crime network linked to Pakistan-based handlers.

Electronic devices and financial trails under scrutiny

Officials suspect that some of the individuals under scrutiny were being developed as local operatives, facilitators, logistics providers, financial conduits, and possible sleeper assets for organised crime and terror-linked activities.

Sources said several electronic devices, mobile phones, digital storage units, and documents were currently being scrutinised by the agency. Investigators are examining communication records, encrypted chats, social media activity, and financial trails to map the extent of the alleged network and identify possible handlers operating from Pakistan, Dubai, and other foreign locations.

Officials said the nexus between Shahzad Bhatti and the Pakistan-based Dogar Gang recently surfaced during the investigation into the Ghaziabad CCTV espionage module case, in which intelligence agencies and the Ghaziabad Police uncovered a suspected Pakistan-linked surveillance network. According to investigators, the probe revealed that Bhatti allegedly functioned as a remote coordinator operating through Dogar Gang handlers, local facilitators, and digital operatives based in India. The investigation further revealed that the Dogar Gang allegedly played a key ground-level operational role in the espionage network, including the recruitment, coordination, and handling of accused persons involved in the case.

Probe links network to espionage and terror plots

Sources said the network allegedly operated on a “freelance” module, with operatives functioning in isolated cells and often having no direct contact with one another, making the structure difficult for agencies to trace. Investigators alleged that the accused persons arrested in the Ghaziabad module had installed solar-powered, SIM-enabled standalone CCTV cameras near sensitive locations, including areas around Delhi Cantonment and strategic railway corridors. Officials said the cameras were configured to transmit live footage of troop movement, military logistics, and strategic activity through mobile data networks to handlers suspected to be operating from Pakistan and Dubai.

Investigations into recent security incidents, including the twin low-intensity explosions near BSF and Army installations in Punjab in May 2026, have also brought Bhatti under the scanner, officials said.

According to sources, the interrogation of nine accused linked to the Bhatti network, arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell, allegedly revealed plans to target a historic temple in Delhi, a popular dhaba on the Delhi-Sonipat highway, a military camp in Hisar, and other locations across India.

Sources said the Maharashtra ATS operation formed part of a wider multi-state crackdown initiated after months of surveillance, intelligence gathering, and interrogation of arrested operatives by central and state agencies.

Bhatti, a Lahore-based Pakistani gangster allegedly linked to the ISI, has emerged as a key figure in several ongoing investigations related to organised crime and terror-linked activities targeting India. According to officials, Bhatti has allegedly been operating out of Dubai for several years while frequently travelling between Pakistan, the UAE, and other countries in the Middle East and Europe.

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Officials said multiple investigations linked to Bhatti’s network involve allegations related to terror recruitment, radicalisation, organised crime, and arms trafficking.

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