Cops: Terrorists in Canada, Europe planned Tarn Taran RPG attack

TARN TARAN: Six youths, including two juveniles, were arrested for planning and carrying out a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack at Sarhali police station in Punjab's Tarn Taran district on December 9 night.
DGP Punjab Gaurav Yadav said on Friday that the attack was masterminded by foreign-based terrorists Lakhbir Singh alias Landa Harike, Satbir Singh alias Satta and Gurdev alias Jaisel, with the help of Ajmeet Singh, who is currently lodged in jail.
According to sources, Landa is based in Canada, Satta and Gurdev are residing in European countries and Gurdev migrated to Europe from Dubai recently.
The arrested accused are Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi Numberdar, 18, resident of Naushera Pannuan; Gurlal Singh alias Gahla ,19, of Chohla Sahib, Surlalpal Singh alias Gurlal alias Lali, 21, of Thathiya Mahanta village, and Jobanpreet Singh alias Joban, 18, of Naushera Pannuan. Two juveniles arrested in the case had fired the RPG.
The Soviet-era single-use 70mm caliber RPG-26 weapon, which was used by Mujahideen in Afghanistan, was sourced from across the border. Police have recovered three pistols - two .32 bore and one .30 bore - along with ammunition, one hand grenade and one motorcycle from the arrested persons.
Gopi Numberdar who turned 18 years old a day after his release on November 22, 2022, immediately got in touch with the foreign-based handlers. The DGP said the foreign-based handlers used cut-outs and Dead Letter Box (DLB) techniques for retrieval of consignment and establishing contact so that the module members were assigned tasks directly by the handlers, and the sub-modules were unknown to each other.
Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police Gurmeet Singh Chohan said the attack was the handiwork of Gopi Numberdar and Gurlal Gahla, who were directly in touch with Landa Harike and Satta Naushehra. Both were apprehended from Patti Morh Sarhali on Thursday along with one .32 pistol and 15 live cartridges. The police teams had also recovered a hand grenade on the inputs provided by Gopi Numberdar, he said.
He said Gopi had received Rs 8.5 lakh and one .30 bore pistol along with 200 live cartridges from Landa and Satta.