Punjab cops bust 2 Canada-based ISI-backed terror modules, seize arms

Punjab police on Tuesday claimed to have busted two terror modules, operated by foreign-based gangsters and terrorists and backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, as it arrested two operatives and recovered arms and ammunition, including a tiffin bomb and three hand grenades.

In the first case, the arrested accused has been identified as Yograj Singh alias Yog, a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district.

The narco-terrorism module was being jointly operated by Canada-based Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Rinda and Italy-based Harpreet Singh alias Happy, police said.

The police recovered "an RDX loaded tiffin box fabricated into an improvised explosive device or tiffin bomb, two sophisticated AK-56 assault rifles along with two magazines and 30 live cartridges, one .30 bore pistol along with six live cartridges and 2 kg heroin from the accused", director general of police, Gaurav Yadav said.

The group was backed by Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence, the police said.

The Punjab police, in a separate case, arrested one more operative of the ISI-backed Khalistan Tiger Force terror module Harpreet Singh alias Hira.

Three hand-grenades and weapons have been recovered from his car, DGP said, adding this particular terror module is being operated by Canada-based gangster Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala, who is a close associate of KTF's Canada-based chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The arrested accused Harpreet Singh alias Hira is a resident of Jujhar Nagar in Bathinda.

The police have also recovered two pistols including .30 bore and 9mm Bareta along with 60 live cartridges, he said.

The successes came amid an intensified vigil by the Punjab police against anti-social elements ahead of the festival season, said Yadav in Chandigarh.

The police also identified five more accomplices of Yograj Singh who were allegedly carrying out illegal activities across Punjab and adjoining states.

A manhunt has been launched to nab them, senior superintendent of police Amritsar Rural Swapan Sharma said, adding that the unearthing of the "Landa-Rinda terror module" was a major success for the state police.

DGP Yadav said that Yograj is the main operative of this module and is wanted by the state police and central enforcement agencies in at least five criminal cases, including the one where five AK-47 assault rifles were seized in Tarn Taran in September 2019.

He said preliminary investigations have revealed that the cross-border operations of arms-explosives-drugs smuggling were mainly handled by Yograj on the directions of Landa, Rinda and Happy and jailed smuggler Gurpavitar alias Sai of Lakhna of Tarn Taran.

Yograj had been active in recovery and further delivery of consignments of arms and drugs at a large scale, he added.

SSP Sharma said that further investigations are on and more recoveries of arms and explosives are expected soon.

The second module is operated by Canada-based gangster Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala, DGP Yadav said.

Following a reliable input from Counter Intelligence Punjab, Moga police laid a 'naka' at Kotkapura-Baghapurana road and rounded up the accused Harpreet, who was traveling to Amritsar in his white-colour car on Tuesday.

He said that during preliminary investigations, Harpreet confessed that he was going to deliver the hand grenades and arms consignment on the directions of close-associate of Arsh Dala identified as Amandeep Singh alias Babbu, who is currently lodged in Hoshiarpur Jail.

SSP Moga Gulneet Singh Khurana said that accused Harpreet "revealed that the consignment was brought by Veeja Singh and Ranjodh Singh from the border area on the directions of Arsh Dala's Manila-based associates identified as Manpreet Singh alias Pita and Amritpal Singh alias Ammy, who are also associated with terrorists in Pakistan".

The accused also revealed that Manpreet Pita and Ammy have handed over the consignment to two unknown persons in Moga, who further assigned him to deliver it at an undisclosed location in Amritsar, the SSP claimed.

The development came two days after the arrest of two operatives identified as Veeja Singh alias Gagan alias Gaggu and Ranjodh Singh alias Jyoti of this module from the Chamkaur Sahib area.

Earlier, the Ferozepur Police had recovered one sophisticated AK-47 assault rifle along with two magazines and 60 live cartridges from the paddy fields of village Arifke in Ferozepur that were intended for retrieval by Veeja Singh and Ranjodh Singh.