Punjab Police busts five terror modules, arrests 17 terrorists in 10 days

Punjab Police has busted five terrorist modules in the state and also arrested 17 terrorists in the last 10 days, according to the police on Monday.

The Police have also recovered four rifles including AKs/MP-9/MP-5 and 25 revolvers/pistols from their possession. Apart from this, the Police teams have also recovered three hand grenades and one IED, said a police official.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing his weekly press conference here on Monday said that the police is making every effort to maintain peace and harmony in the state.

"In the last 10 days the Police teams have managed to strike a major blow to the terrorist modules being operated by gangsters-turned-terrorists including Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, Harvinder Singh alias Rinda and Arsh Dalla from outside India," he said.

Gill informed that the police busted a module on October 1 after arresting three operatives of an ISI-backed terror module jointly handled by Canada-based Lakhbir Landa and Pakistan-based Harvinder Rinda after recovering one sophisticated AK-56 assault rifle along with two magazines, 90 live cartridges, and two bullet shells from their possession.

"Earlier on September 28, an operative of Canada-based terrorist Lakhbir Landa gang was arrested from Bihar for his involvement in several heinous crimes pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, assault, robbery, and snatching," he said.

The IGP said that on the next day, an ISI-backed drone-based Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) terror module being operated by Canada-based terrorist/gangster Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala was busted with the arrest of its two operatives from the Chamkaur Sahib area.

The Police have also recovered two illicit weapons including a .22 bore revolver and .32 bore pistol along with 21 live cartridges from their possession. Two days after, the Police arrested one more operative of the same module after recovering three hand grenades and two pistols from his car.

"On October 4, Amritsar Rural Police busted an ISI-backed Narco-Terrorism module after arresting its main operative and 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 live cartridges; one .30 bore pistol along with 6 live cartridges; and 2 KG Heroin was recovered from his possession," he said.

Gill further said that a module linked with Gurdev Singh (lodged in Faridkot jail) being operated by Germany-based Gurmeet Singh alias Bagga was busted with the arrest of its five members for arranging smuggled weapons and providing logistic support.

"The police also recovered two 9mm foreign-made pistols and one .32 bore pistol," he said.

Giving weekly updates on drugs, the IGP said that last week, the police arrested 314 drug smugglers after registering 240 FIRs including 32 related to commercial quantity, and recovered 18Kg Heroin, 16Kg opium, 4Kg Ganja, 5 quintals of poppy husk, and 3.71 lakh tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids, besides, recovering Rs 9.73 lakhs drug money.