Terror module busted with arrest of two, claims Punjab Police

Police claimed to have busted a Pakistan-Inter-Services Intelligence backed terror module with the arrest of its two operatives from the Chamkaur Sahib area.

Chandigarh:The Punjab Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a Pakistan-Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) backed terror module with the arrest of its two operatives from the Chamkaur Sahib area. Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said the terror module is being operated by Canada-based terrorist Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala, who is a close associate of Khalistan Tiger Force's Canada-based chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Those arrested have been identified as Veeja Singh alias Gagan alias Gaggu of village Chand Nava in Moga and Ranjodh Singh alias Jyoti of village Ganji Gulab Singh Wala in Moga. The Police have also recovered two weapons including a .22 bore revolver and a .32 bore pistol along with 21 live cartridges from their possession. The arrest came four days after the Ferozepur Police had recovered one sophisticated AK-47 assault rifle along with two magazines and 60 live cartridges from Arifke village in Ferozepur.

Investigations revealed that the consignment was dropped using a drone in the direction of terrorist Arsh Dala, and was intended to be retrieved by Veeja Singh and Ranjodh Singh from Arifke village. DGP Yadav said after the recovery of the weapons from Ferozepur, an intelligence-led operation was launched across the state to nab the accused persons, and on reliable inputs, the Rupnagar Police managed to arrest both the accused persons from the Chamkaur Sahib area during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

He said during preliminary investigations, arrested persons confessed that they had gone to Arifke village to retrieve this consignment on directions of Arsh Dala but could not find it, and later, it was recovered by the Ferozepur Police on the information of a field owner. "Both accused have also confessed to having received few drone-based weapon consignments to further deliver them at specific locations as directed by Canada-based Arsh Dala, which was further to be used for major target killings to disturb communal harmony of the state," said the DGP.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rupnagar Sandeep Garg said that further investigations are on and more arrests are expected soon. Canada-based Arsh Dala, a native of Dala village in Moga, is a gangster-turned-terrorist involved in various criminal activities in Punjab and abroad and is most wanted by the Punjab Police.

His involvement had also emerged in various targeted killings that took place in the border state of Punjab, besides, in cases of supplying militant hardware including RDX, IEDs, AK-47 and other arms and ammunition to modules in the state. DGP Yadav said the process is on to extradite Arsh Dala from Canada and soon he will be brought to India. Notably, the red corner notice against Arsh Dala has already been issued in May 2022. *(PTI)