ISI-backed module busted in Punjab, cache of weapons & heroin seized
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Oct, 2022 11:42 AM
Chandigarh, Oct 4 (IANS) With the Punjab Police having further intensified vigil and alertness against anti-social elements ahead of the festival season, Amritsar Rural Police has busted an ISI-backed narco-terrorism module with seizure of a cache of weapons and 2 kg heroin.
Its main operative has been arrested after recovering arms and explosives from his possession, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav SAID here on Tuesday.
The module is being jointly operated by Canada-based Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Rinda and Italy-based Harpreet Singh, alias Happy.
The arrested accused has been identified as Yograj Singh, alias Yog, a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district. The police have also identified five more accomplices, who were part of the module in carrying out illegal activities across Punjab and adjoining states.
The police have recovered one RDX-loaded tiffin box fabricated into an improvised explosive device (IED) or tiffin bomb; two sophisticated AK-56 assault rifles along with two magazines and 30 cartridges; one .30 bore pistol along with six cartridges; and 2 kg heroin from the accused.
DGP Yadav said the arrested accused is the main operative of this module and wanted by the state police and central agencies in at least five criminal cases, including the one wherein 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 was mainly handled by Yograj on the directions of terrorists Landa, Rinda and Happy and jailed smuggler Gurpavitar, alias Sai of Lakhna in Tarn Taran district.
Yograj had been active in recovery and further delivery of consignments of arms and drugs at a large scale, he added.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Swapan Sharma said the Police have made a major strike in exposing the members of Landa-Rinda terror module.
In the present module, the police have managed to identify five operatives of the gang and a manhunt has been launched to nab them, he added.
The alliance promised Rs 10 lakh free annual health insurance for all Punjabis, Rs 2,000 per month to all women heads of 'blue card' families, 5 lakh houses and five marla plots each to homeless poor and hiking old-age pension to Rs 3,100 and shagun scheme of Rs 75,000.
In an interview to IANS, Ashwani Kumar, who was perceived as a loyalist of the Gandhi family and had supported against the 'G23' , said it was getting difficult to continue in the party. He also said he is open to join any other party.
Promising to work on the teachings of Sikh gurus with principles of non-discrimination and equality for all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that the NDA would form the government in Punjab and would free the state from drugs.
The government can't restrict fundamental rights in the garb of maintaining public order, the counsel for the girl students seeking permission to wear the hijab told the Karnataka High Court on Monday.
On February 14, 2019, a suicide bomber of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group attacked the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in which 40 personnel were killed.
The Customs officials on Sunday recovered an unclaimed bag containing 'cocaine capsules' valued at Rs 15 crore from the Indira Gandhi International Airport here, an official said. The official said that it was seized and a case was lodged and efforts were being made to identify the accused who abandoned the bag.
