GUWAHATI | The Assam Police Special Task Force (STF), in a joint operation with Hailakandi District Police, arrested another alleged operative of the Pakistan-based Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) in Hailakandi district early Wednesday, taking the number of arrests linked to the network in the state to four.

The arrested person has been identified as 21-year-old Fazal Islam Barbhuiyan, a resident of Ramnathpur in Hailakandi. Police said he had been evading arrest in connection with STF Police Station Case No. 06/2026. According to the STF, the arrest was made on the basis of leads generated during the investigation following the detention of three other suspected operatives in different districts of Assam.

Police said incriminating articles and documents were recovered from Barbhuiyan and seized during the operation. The STF had earlier arrested three alleged SBN operatives in coordinated operations with police teams in Dhubri, Chirang and Barpeta in July.The three were identified as Akramul Islam of Beparipara in Dhubri, Aminur Rahman of Dhupiri in Panbari, Chirang, and Abdul Hussain of Dabandia in Kalgachia, Barpeta.

The arrests followed intelligence inputs concerning the activities of the Shahzad Bhatti Network, which Assam Police alleges has been involved in recruitment, online radicalisation, reconnaissance, logistics, espionage, illegal procurement of arms, establishment of sleeper cells and the facilitation of terrorist activities.Police have also alleged that the network operates in association with, and under the direction of, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Investigators have claimed to have uncovered links between the alleged network and several organisations, including the Khalistan Armed Force (KAF), Punjab Sovereignty Alliance (PSA), Khalistan Liberation Army (KLA), Sher-e-Punjab Brigade (SPB), United Sikh Brotherhood (USB), Sikh Tigers of Khalistan (STK) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Hindustan (TTH). According to Assam Police, these groups are suspected of being used as front organisations to conceal the network’s operational structure and its alleged cross-border links.

The SBN first came under the Assam Police’s radar during an investigation in Nalbari district, which led to the arrest of an alleged operative on May 22 this year.The latest arrest comes amid a wider nationwide security operation against the alleged Shahzad Bhatti network.On August 12, security agencies claimed to have foiled a major terror plot ahead of Independence Day and arrested 253 people across 14 states. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the multistate raids were part of a coordinated operation aimed at dismantling a Pakistan-backed ISI module allegedly operated by Shahzad Bhatti