The Punjab Police on Saturday said that it has foiled a conspiracy by Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI to disturb peace in the state ahead of Independence Day with the arrest of five operatives of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). The arrests were made following a two-week operation, the police force informed, as per news agency PTI. Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav stated that the police received inputs that some terrorist elements based abroad formed a terror module by recruiting foot soldiers through criminals lodged in jails
It said that they are hatching a conspiracy to target minority leaders, police officials, and other prominent people to disturb peace and harmony in the state, as per the top cop.
"These groups of handful of people are supported by Pakistan's ISI," he said in a video address.
Based on the information, the State Special Operating Cell (SSOC) of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar registered a case and began a special operation, he mentioned.
"Around a two-week-long operation, which involved meticulous intelligence gathering, technical analysis and swift action, led to the apprehension of five operatives of this terrorist module involved in the nefarious plot," Yadav informed in a statement, as quoted by news agency PTI.
As per a tweet by the Punjab DGP, the police seized two illegal weapons and live ammunition from the alleged KLF operators' possesion.
The top cop said that this new module has connections with the same foreign-based handlers who had targeted Shiv Sena (Samajwadi) leader Rajeev Mahajan in Batala on June 24. According to him, the foreign-based handlers were controlling this separate module through these operatives to execute different targeted killings in the state.
The police probe also revealed that the KLF operatives were "talent spotting" in India and recruiting foot soldiers through criminals lodged in jails, he said.
They use fake narratives to influence impressionable youths on social media and transfer money into their bank accounts to motivate them to carry out targeted killings in Punjab, he added.
According to PTI's report, Assistant Inspector General, SSOC, Ashwani Kapur informed about the discovery that foreign-based handlers of the KLF had provided a list of targets to the module members, who had already conducted a recce of some of the targets.
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