ISI-backed module busted in Punjab, cache of weapons & heroin seized
Darpan News Desk IANS, 04 Oct, 2022 11:42 AM
Chandigarh, Oct 4 (IANS) With the Punjab Police having further intensified vigil and alertness against anti-social elements ahead of the festival season, Amritsar Rural Police has busted an ISI-backed narco-terrorism module with seizure of a cache of weapons and 2 kg heroin.
Its main operative has been arrested after recovering arms and explosives from his possession, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav SAID here on Tuesday.
The module is being jointly operated by Canada-based Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Rinda and Italy-based Harpreet Singh, alias Happy.
The arrested accused has been identified as Yograj Singh, alias Yog, a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district. The police have also identified five more accomplices, who were part of the module in carrying out illegal activities across Punjab and adjoining states.
The police have recovered 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 cartridges; one .30 bore pistol along with six cartridges; and 2 kg heroin from the accused.
DGP Yadav said the arrested accused is the main operative of this module and wanted by the state police and central agencies in at least five criminal cases, including the one wherein five AK-47 assault rifles were seized in Tarn Taran in September 2019.
He said preliminary investigations have revealed that the cross-border operations of arms-explosives-drugs smuggling was mainly handled by Yograj on the directions of terrorists Landa, Rinda and Happy and jailed smuggler Gurpavitar, alias Sai of Lakhna in Tarn Taran district.
Yograj had been active in recovery and further delivery of consignments of arms and drugs at a large scale, he added.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Swapan Sharma said the Police have made a major strike in exposing the members of Landa-Rinda terror module.
In the present module, the police have managed to identify five operatives of the gang and a manhunt has been launched to nab them, he added.
The data comes on a day when India reached the milestone of 100 crore vaccinations, and demonstrates that lack of vaccine hesitancy has played a big role in achieving this number.
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, representing Singh, submitted his client has been in jail for the past two years, and added that his custody is not required, as two charge sheets have already been filed.
Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for delay in recording statements of witnesses before a judicial magistrate in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, where eight persons were killed, and also told the state government to dispel the impression that it is dragging its feet in the matter.
In a statement, the minister termed the decision by the CBSE to include all regional languages in the minor subjects as a conspiracy to wean students away from their mother tongue.
Delhi government has always tried to release the compensation soon after the announcement and has done so in the past too, he said, adding that the compensation amount given by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)- led government is the highest in the country.
As per the information, Raj Kaur, a resident of Kassel, presently residing in Cheema Kalan in Tarn Taran district, had alleged that her brother Lakhbir Singh was allured by some persons and taken to Singhu where he was murdered by some Nihang Sikhs on October 15 for alleged sacrilege.
