The police recovered several classified documents related to the armed forces from one of the ISI agent’s possession.
The Delhi Police busted a network of ISI sleeper cells in a secret operation following the arrest of two agents of the Islamic State. Officials said that central agencies were also involved in this operation that was carried out from January to March 2025.
According to news agency ANI, the Delhi Police arrested two agents, including a Nepali-origin ISI agent identified as Ansarul Mian Ansari. They recovered several classified documents related to the armed forces from his possession.
A chargesheet in this regard was filed in May, following which both the arrested ISI agents are now lodged in the national capital’s Tihar Jail.
Who is Ansarul Mian Ansari?
Ansari was reportedly arrested from a hotel in Delhi when he was trying to go to Pakistan. He revealed that he was a cab driver in Qatar, and that’s where he met an ISI handler. Ansari was later taken to Pakistan, where top ISI officials trained him for several days, news agency ANI reported, citing sources.
Following the completion of his training, ISI officials sent Ansari to the national capital via Nepal. They reportedly asked him to make a CD of all the confidential documents and send it to Pakistan.
After Ansari’s interrogation, police arrested another person in Ranchi.
This comes just days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two absconders, allegedly part of a sleeper cell network of ISIS, from the Mumbai airport.
The duo, wanted in a 2023 case related to the fabrication and testing of IED’s Pune, were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration at the Mumbai International Airport Terminal 2 when they returned to India from Jakarta.
The two accused, identified as Abdullah Faiyaz Shaikh alias Diaperwala and Talha Khan, had been on the run for over two years and also had non-bailable warrants issued against them by a special NIA court in Mumbai.
The central probing agency had also declared a cash reward of ₹3 lakh each for information about them, news agency PTI reported.
Their case pertained to criminal conspiracy by the duo, along with eight other ISIS Pune sleeper cell members who were already arrested and in judicial custody.
Shaikh and Khan had conspired to commit terror acts with an aim to disrupt India’s peace and communal harmony by waging a war against the Government of India to further the ISIS agenda, the official statement said.
Crackdown on sleeper cells intensifies
The heightened actions against sleeper cell networks come in the backdrop of Operation Sindoor and the recently ceased cross-border fighting between India and Pakistan. The Indian armed forces launched targeted strikes on nine terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 7 under Operation Sindoor.
The forces said the operation was launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 persons, mostly civilians.
Following Operation Sindoor, Pakistan tried to launch a retaliatory action against India, using cross-border shelling, drones, and unarmed aerial vehicles. However, India’s air defence system and the armed forces successfully thwarted these bids. On May 10, both the sides reached a ceasefire understanding, agreeing to immediate cessation of all military actions against each other.
