Punjab police busts ISI-backed narco-terrorism module, arrest main operative
Premium- 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.
Punjab police on 4 October claimed to have busted an ISI-backed narco-terrorism module and arrested its main operative and recovering arms and explosives from his possession.
The accused has been identified as a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district and named as Yograj Singh alias Yog. 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.
Police claim the group was backed by Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
Amid an intensified vigil by the Punjab Police against anti-social elements ahead of the festival season, Amritsar Rural Police smashed the module, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
Also, 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.
The police have launched a manhunt to nab them, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Swapan Sharma, 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.
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, the DGP said.
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.
With PTI inputs.
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