New Delhi, June 1 : Pakistan has unleashed a lethal combination comprising Dawood Ibrahim aide, Munna Jhingada and ISI asset Shahzad Bhatti to carry out coordinated attacks in India.

On Saturday, the Special Cell of the Delhi police busted a Dawood-backed module and arrested nine people.

Investigations reveal that the ISI has been pushing the underworld hard to carry out attacks in India.

In a bid to do so, the network that the D-Syndicate already has in India has come in handy to carry out terror operations.

While Mudassar Hussain Sayyed, alias Munna Jhingada was handling the module, Bhatti was in charge of recruitments and planning.

An official said that the ISI wants to recreate what it did in 1993. It roped in the Dawood module to carry out the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. The entire operation, which included smuggling arms, deciding targets, logistics and execution was carried out by the underworld.

The ISI, on its part, helped with the funding and also the training ahead of the blasts. Post the 1993 blasts, the ISI largely kept the underworld in India away from executing terror attacks. The underworld was only used to fund terror groups in Pakistan with the money that it made from narcotics trade.

Another official said that Pakistan now wants to repeat the same tactics and is writing a pretty similar script that it had in 1993.

The underworld has a much better network and its members are often regarded as criminals and not terrorists.

A similar modus operandi was busted a few years back, when the Indian agencies picked up information about Dawood being told to recruit sharpshooters. The aim was to target scores of Hindu leaders in Gujarat and other parts of the country.

Officials who are probing the case, say that post the 1993 operation, the module that was busted on Saturday was probably the biggest in which the underworld and terrorists came together.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the ISI has been strategically using its assets to carry out attacks in India.

Jhingada is familiar with India and he has been one of the most strategic assets for Dawood Ibrahim. He is originally a resident of Jogeshwari in Mumbai and had been arrested in Thailand after he made an attempt to kill Chhota Rajan.

He had served in a Thailand jail for 10 years. When India made the extradition request, Pakistan went all out in the legal battle claiming that he is their citizen.

Jhingada had entered Thailand on a Pakistani passport and this is what helped Islamabad get a ruling in their favour.

During his time in jail he had met with one Lama Aung Kami, a resident of Nepal. Kami (66) was one of the nine members arrested by the Delhi police on Saturday. He was tasked with coordinating the logistics and finances.

An official said that in addition to the problem that the D-Syndicate is posing to national security, the menace that is being created by Bhatti is immense. He has blended in with the underworld and both work seamlessly on recruiting and planning attacks on Indian soil.

Bhatti has been using the social media extensively to propagate hate against India. It is his primary recruitment tool and he has managed to target several youngsters in India to be part of the underworld-terror module.

The combination is a lethal one and getting the two together only shows how desperate the ISI is to wreak havoc in India.

For now, both the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba are on the backfoot. In addition to reeling from the losses thanks to 'Operation Sindoor', there is also a major trust deficit between these groups and the establishment in Pakistan.

Officials say that this has led to the ISI looking to rope in the underworld to carry out attacks in India.

The official warned that the underworld will look to step up activities and also create many more modules. Part of the plan would be to identify local gangsters and other youth. On their radar would be religious places, railway stations and important people, the official also added.

/IANS