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.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the cast of the national emblem atop the new Parliament building, opposition parties and activists on Tuesday accused the government of distorting the national emblem by replacing the graceful and confident Ashokan lions with those displaying an aggressive posture.
The container, which was loaded from the Jebel Ali port in the UAE, was booked by an importer from Malerkotla in Punjab. The DGP said that as the link of the container has been established with Punjab, the consignment seems to be routed to some other place via Punjab.
In March, the top court had reserved the order on sentence to Mallya, who was found guilty of contempt in 2017 for disobeying court's order for not disclosing full particulars of assets in case between the SBI and Kingfisher Airlines.
Besides Bains, Paramjit Singh Pamma, Jasbir Kaur, Baljinder Kaur and Pardeep Kumara surrendered in the court of Judicial Magistrate Harsimranjit Kaur. Two other accused -- Karamjit Singh Bains and Sukhchain Singh -- are in judicial custody. All seven were declared proclaimed offender on April 12.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by Punjab BJP leader Jagjit Singh seeking CBI probe into the cold-blooded murder of famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. A bench comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay Oka said the case should not be given a political colour and Punjab is supposed to take care of it and they are taking care of the matter.
The police have recovered 5.57 kg heroin, 17 kg opium, 25 kg ganja, seven quintals poppy husk, 2.25 lakh intoxicant pills and capsules, etc, after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
