Chandigarh: Punjab police on Tuesday (October 4) claimed to have busted an ISI-backed narco-terrorism module by arresting its main operative and recovering arms and explosives from his possession.
The arrested accused has been identified as Yograj Singh alias Yog, a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district.
The module was being jointly operated by Canada-based Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Rinda, and Italy-based Harpreet Singh alias Happy, the police said.
The group was backed by Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence, they said.
Amritsar Rural Police smashed the module amid an intensified vigil by the Punjab Police against anti-social elements ahead of the festival season, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here.
Besides, the police have also identified five more accomplices who were part of the group and were carrying out illegal activities across Punjab and adjoining states.
A manhunt has been launched to nab them, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Swapan Sharma said, adding that the unearthing of the "Landa-Rinda terror module" was a major success for the state police.
The police have recovered "an 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 live cartridges, one 30 bore pistol along with six live cartridges and 2 kg heroin from the accused", DGP said in a statement.
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.
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