CHANDIGARH, June 4:
Punjab police today claimed to have busted a third terror module within a fortnight after arresting three persons who were allegedly trained by Pakistan’s ISI and tasked to carry out attacks in the country.
The accused Gurdial Singh, Jagroop Singh and Satwinder Singh were arrested yesterday. They were directly linked to the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), an ISI-backed outfit.
“They were trained by the ISI and tasked to carry out terror attacks and target various ‘anti-panthic and anti-Sikh forces/individuals’ by Pakistan-based ISYF chief Lakhbir Rode, and Harmeet Singh alias Happy alias PHD,” a Punjab police spokesperson said.
He said that the “major breakthrough” was achieved by the security forces, who were maintaining vigil on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of Operation Bluestar (a military operation carried out to flush out terrorists holed up in the Golden Temple in 1984).
According to police, preliminary investigations have revealed that on May 21 the BSF had seized a consignment of arms and ammunition from near the International Border in Amritsar. It was supplied by the ISYF.
Two persons, Maan Singh and Sher Singh, had been arrested by the BSF last month, when they were trying to pick up the consignment.
Gurdial is a resident of Road Majara in Garhshankar in Hoshiarpur while Jagroop and Satwinder of Chandpur Rurki in Pojewal of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, the spokesperson said.
A. 32 bore pistol, with one magazine and 10 cartridges, and a .38 bore revolver, with seven cartridges, were recovered from them, he said.
While Gurdial and Jagroop were arrested from their native places, Satwinder from a police check-point close to his village in Pojewal police station in Balachaur sub-division.
Gurdial was the chief operative of this terror module and introduced to Lakhbir Singh Rode, who the police claimed was staying “in a ISI provided safe house in Lahore cantonment”, by one Germany-based Balvir Singh Sandhu.
Gurdial had met Rode several times during his visits to Pakistan, as part of religious ‘jathas’ (groups), in the last six-seven years, the spokesperson said.
During his last visit to Pakistan in November 2016, Gurdial had allegedly arranged a visa for Jagroop Singh and also travelled to Lahore with a ‘Jatha’.
During interrogation, the duo revealed that during his stay in Lahore (November 12-21, 2016), Jagroop met Rode and Harmeet through Balvir.
Jagroop also confessed that he was taken blindfolded to the ISYF chief, at an undisclosed location, and imparted a four-day training course by the ISI in handing AK-47 rifle and small weapons.
He was also trained in techniques of sabotaging railway tracks, the spokesperson said, adding that both Gurdial and Jagroop were tasked to carry out terrorist attacks in India and also motivated to target various “anti-panthic and anti- Sikh forces/individuals”.
Rode and his associates had promised to provide them arms and ammunition across the border in India.
During interrogation they also revealed that Gurdial was in regular touch with Balvir, who originally hails from village Paddi Surat Singh in Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur during his visits to Pakistan.
Gurdial had also been in touch with some militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
The spokesperson said that Satwinder was also an active member of this ‘action group’ and, along with Jagroop, he was directly in touch with his “mentors” in Pakistan and Germany.
He said that both Gurdial and Balvir have terrorist backgrounds. They have criminal cases registered against them in 1992 and 1988. A Thompson make gun had been recovered from Gurdial in 1992.
The spokesperson said that the alleged terrorists were arrested following a meticulous intelligence-led operation of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district police.
They have been booked under the provisions of the IPC including for waging a war against the state, and relevant provisions of the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
He said further investigations are on in this case.
On May 21, in a joint operation with BSF, Punjab police had busted a terror module alleged to have links to Canada and Pakistan after arresting two persons.
The security forces had also seized a huge cache of arms from them, who were arrested from Indo-Pak border area while trying to recover the weapons pushed into the Indian territory from Pakistan.
On May 30, police had claimed to have arrested four youths, including a woman, and busted a terror module that was planning to indulge in violence and targeted killings under the banner of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ to fan communal violence in the State.
Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, as well as those responsible for incidents of sacrilege/desecration were alleged to be on the radar of the highly radicalised youth, police claimed. (PTI)
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