CHANDIGARH: In yet another major breakthrough, the Punjab Police arrested three terrorists and busted a terror module with direct links to Pakistan’s ISI-backed banned terror outfit, International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF).
The arrested terrorists, Gurdial Singh, Jagroop Singh and Satwinder Singh, had been trained and tasked by the ISI to carry out terror attacks and target various ‘anti-panthic and anti-Sikh forces/individuals’ by Pakistan-based ISYF chief Lakhbir Rode and Harmeet Singh alias Happy.
Preliminary investigations by the Punjab police revealed that a part of the consignment of arms and ammunition seized by the BSF on May 21 this year close to the international border in Amritsar, was supplied by the ISYF.
Two terrorists, Maan Singh and Sher Singh were arrested by the BSF in May, while they were attempting to pick up the said consignment.
While Gurdial Singh hails from Road Majara in Hoshiarpur, both Jagroop and Satiwinder are residents of Chandpur Rurki in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar.
A .32 bore pistol, with one magazine and ten cartridges and a .38 bore revolver, with seven cartridges, was recovered from the suspects.
While Gurdial and Jagroop were arrested from their native homes, Satwinder was apprehended at a police checkpoint close to his village in Pojewal police station limits in Balachaur sub-division.
A police official said that Gurdial Singh was the chief operative of this terror module and was introduced to Lakhbir Singh Rode, who is staying in a ISI provided safe house in Lahore cantonment, by Germany based Balvir Singh Sandhu.
Gurdial had met Rode several times during his visits to Pakistan, as part of religious jathas, in the last six years.
During his last visit to Pakistan in November 2016, Gurdial Singh had arranged a visa for Jagroop Singh, who then travelled to Lahore with a Jatha.
During interrogation, the duo revealed that during his stay in Lahore from
November 12 to 21 in 2016, Jagroop met Rode and Harmeet through Balvir Singh Sandhu.
Jagroop Singh confessed that he was taken to the ISYF chief blindfolded at an undisclosed location and imparted with four-days of training by the ISI in handling AK-47 rifles and smaller weapons.
He was also trained in sabotaging railway tracks by loosening the fastening mechanisms of fish-plates, nuts and bolts.
Both Gurdial Singh and Jagroop Singh were tasked to carry out terrorist attacks in India. Lakhbir Rode and his associates had promised to provide them with arms and ammunition from across the Indian border.
Interrogation of the suspects also revealed that during his visits to Pakistan, Gurdial Singh was regularly in contact with Balvir, who originally hails from Paddi Surat Singh village in Hoshiarpur.
Gurdial had also been speaking with some militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said that Satwinder Singh was also an active member of this 'action group' and, along with Jagroop Singh, was directly in touch with his mentors in Pakistan and Germany.
Both Gurdial Singh and Balvir Singh Sandhu have terrorist backgrounds, with criminal cases registered against them in 1992 and 1988. A Thompson gun had been recovered from Gurdial in 1992.
They have been booked under sections 121,121A, 120B of the IPC, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Act.