The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an aide of Canada-based Khalistani terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa in a terror network case which involves the supply of deadly weapons for extortion from businessmen among others, an official said in a statement on Friday (July 19).
What did the NIA say?
The arrested key aide was identified as Baljeet Singh alias Rana Bhai alias Balli who hails from the Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, the NIA said, while adding that he was arrested on Thursday. Balli was found to be a major weapons supplier to Landa’s agents in Punjab, it said. The weapons were used to carry out large-scale terror activities, including extortions from businessmen and others, it added.
NIA’s investigations in the case had led to the arrest of one Gurpreet Singh Gopi, identified as an associate of Landa and of another Khalistani terrorist Satnam Singh Satta, the NIA said.
Investigations in the case, registered by NIA suo moto on July 10, 2023, revealed that Baljeet Singh had also provided weapons to Satta as part of a larger conspiracy of various banned Khalistani terrorist organisations to destabilise India by unleashing violent acts in Punjab and other places.
Both Landa and Satta are believed to be operating from Canada to promote terror in India, it said.
The NIA is continuing with its investigation as part of its crackdown on the Khalistani terrorist outfits, the statement said.
NIA arrests four suspects in international human trafficking
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested four key accused involved in an international human trafficking and cybercrime syndicate from Delhi. According to a statement issued by the NIA, the accused used to lure and trap the Indian youth on the pretext of offering them jobs and sending them to foreign countries. The accused were arrested on Monday by the federal probe agency. They were identified as Manzoor Alam alias Guddu, a resident of Delhi, Sahil and Ashish alias Akhil of Bahadurgarh (Haryana), and Pawan Yadav alias Afroze alias Afzal of Siwan (Bihar), the statement said.
The NIA statement further said, "The trafficked youth were forced to work in fake call centres at Laos, Golden Triangle SEZ, among other places in the South East Asian region, as part of the massive network being operated by foreign nationals through operatives based in various parts of India, Laos, and other countries." The youth were then coerced to carry out online fraud through these call centres, the youth were coerced into carrying out illegal online activities. These frauds included investment scams, relationship scams, and cryptocurrency scams.
(With PTI inputs)
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