Punjab Police Busts Pakistan’s ISI-Backed Babbar Khalsa International Terror Module
Of the two arrested, one is a juvenile. An FIR has been registered in the matter at the State Special Operation Cell in Amritsar, according to police.
Chandigarh: Punjab Police on Friday claimed to have busted a terror module backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and run by operatives of proscribed outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
"In a major breakthrough, @PunjabPoliceInd has disrupted, #Pakistan - #ISI backed terror-module run by Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative Harvinder Rinda and Harpreet Singh @ Happy Passia and executed by foreign-based Gangster Gurdev Singh @ Jaisel @ Pehalwan, native of village Chambal in #TarnTaran," Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said in a post on X.
Acting on intelligence inputs, Jashandeep Singh of Amritsar and a juvenile were nabbed, he said.
"During interrogation, they revealed that they placed #IED at Police Station Ajnala on 23.11.2024 and carried out other attacks," he added.
Two hand grenades, a pistol, ammunition and a motorcycle have been seized from the apprehended accused, Yadav said.
An FIR has been registered in the matter at the State Special Operation Cell in Amritsar, according to police.
"Investigations are underway to unearth the complete network of Rinda, Happy Passia and Gurdev Jaisal," the DGP said.
One of those arrested has been identified as Jashandeep Singh alias Danny, a resident of Jandiala Guru in Amritsar. The other accused is aged 17, a police statement said.
Police teams also recovered two Chinese-made P86 hand grenades and one sophisticated Turkey-made 9MM Zigana pistol along with ammunition from their possession. The motorcycle the two accused were riding was also impounded, it said.
The development comes weeks after an IED planted close to the Ajnala police station was recovered on November 23. The BKI had claimed responsibility for this "act of terror", police said.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that Jashandeep and the other arrested accused were in touch with gangster Gurdev Jaisal, who lured them to work for him in exchange for money and drugs. Besides planning terror activities, Jaisal used them for drug peddling, DGP Yadav said.
Both the arrested accused have confessed to their involvement in planting the IED near Ajnala police station based on the directions of their handlers and also revealed that they received various consignments of weapons and explosives, the officer said.
Yadav said further investigations are being conducted to unearth the entire network of Jaisal, Harvinder Singh Rinda and Happy Passia. Efforts are being made to identify and apprehend other members of this group to bring the case to a logical end, he said.
Additional IG, State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) Amritsar, Sukhminder Singh Mann said they received secret information that Rinda, Passia and Jaisal have mobilised their associates to carry out anti-national activities in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Batala areas and have also arranged huge consignments of weapons and explosives for the execution of these plans to target government establishments.
Acting swiftly on the information, teams of SSOC Amritsar launched an intel-based operation and arrested Jashandeep and his juvenile accomplice from Amritsar after recovering arms and explosives from their possession, he said.
Jashandeep was arrested by Batala police in May for his involvement in extortion. After getting bail in the case, he again got involved in criminal activities, Mann said.
Similarly, the juvenile was also arrested by Amritsar city police in August for stealing a scooter, but was released after a few days due to his age, the additional IG said.
(This report has been published as part of an auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)