Gangster Hunts 'Unknown Gunmen': Pakistan-Based Terror Operative Shahzad Bhatti Hunts For Elite Indian Hitmen

Mumbai, May 16: Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terror operative Shahzad Bhatti is allegedly on a desperate hunt to recruit high-calibre trained hitmen in India. According to sources familiar with the matter, Bhatti’s objective is to assemble a decentralised network of lethal shooters to function as “unknown gunmen” for carrying out high-profile targeted eliminations across the country.

Agencies track alleged recruitment network

Security agencies monitoring the module believe Bhatti is attempting to replicate a similar operational pattern in India, modelled on unidentified gunmen who, over the past few years, have systematically eliminated top-tier terrorists inside Pakistan.

For the past few years, a string of high-profile terrorists wanted by India, including key figures from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen, have been mysteriously gunned down by unidentified motorcycle-borne shooters across Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi.

Intelligence intercepts reveal that Bhatti, who allegedly operates a vast digital recruitment network from Dubai and Pakistan under the protection of local handlers, is increasingly obsessed with replicating the operational efficiency attributed to these “unknown gunmen”.

Investigators said Bhatti’s growing obsession with these unidentified shooters reflects deep anxiety within cross-border terror syndicates, which have been severely rattled by a wave of mysterious precision target killings on Pakistani soil.

Focus shifts towards hardened criminals

According to intelligence intercepts accessed by security agencies, Bhatti is no longer allegedly looking for low-level street criminals or impressionable online followers, but is actively scouting for highly disciplined, cold-blooded shooters who can replicate the exact operational style of the phantom gunmen inside Pakistan.

“He is looking for individuals who are capable of carrying out swift, untraceable, high-impact assassinations and later disappear without leaving a trail,” a senior counter-terrorism official said on condition of anonymity.

This strategic pivot has allegedly forced Bhatti to shift his focus from impressionable social media youth to hardened criminals inside Indian prisons.

Intercepts reveal that Bhatti is allegedly actively scouting and profiling “cruel and desperate” prisoners across various high-security jails in Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra who are willing to execute high-profile assassinations for the right price.

Bhatti is reportedly in contact with interstate criminal gangs involved in contract killings and arms trafficking to compile detailed profiles of dangerous and ruthless operatives who possess a history of extreme violence, sharp tactical skills, and a complete lack of ideological constraint.

These include hardened offenders who went underground after major crimes, those arrested after long periods due to gang-related disclosures, or inmates yet to break under sustained interrogation.

MHA issues fresh advisory

Many of these are considered highly hardened offenders, known for their brutality and unwillingness to cooperate, and are being assessed as potential candidates for high-value targeted operations.

Officials said Bhatti’s objective is allegedly to build decentralised freelance hit modules that would be difficult for intelligence agencies to link back to a single cross-border handler.

According to sources, Bhatti’s alleged network operates through a layered chain of intermediaries, including so-called hybrid or “sleeper” operatives who either have legitimate access to prison visiting systems or are currently out on bail.

Security agencies have also flagged that Bhatti is allegedly maintaining detailed profiles of inmate rivalries, sharpshooters currently facing trial, and disgruntled gang members lodged in various prisons.

The revelation, which emerged a few months ago, prompted the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to issue a fresh advisory directing state prison authorities to step up surveillance in high-risk barracks, monitor prison phone lines, and carry out detailed audits of visitor logs of inmates suspected to have cross-border or terror-linked affiliations.

Officials said the directive is aimed at preventing prisons from being exploited as recruitment or coordination hubs for organised criminal and terror-linked networks operating through intermediaries.

Multi-state crackdown underway

Concurrently, agencies like the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which recently interrogated 57 individuals linked to Bhatti’s social media network during coordinated raids across 40 locations, and the Delhi Police Special Cell are tracking recently released convicts and those out on parole to ensure they have not been compromised by Bhatti’s alleged lucrative financial offers.

This aggressive expansion comes amid a massive multi-state crackdown, including the Delhi Police’s ‘Gang Bust Operation 2.0’, which recently rounded up several operatives to foil planned attacks on military camps and high-profile religious sites.

With the National Investigation Agency (NIA) pressing for his extradition and central agencies tracking his digital footprint across 16 countries, Bhatti’s desperate bid to match the lethality of the “unknown gunmen” is being viewed by security forces as a defensive and paranoid reaction to a shrinking safe haven.

For now, the hunt continues on both sides as Bhatti allegedly searches for his ideal assassins while global intelligence agencies close the net on his sprawling narco-terror empire.

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