CHANDIGARH: 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) on Sunday.
The arrested—identified as Gurdial Singh, Jagroop Singh and Satwinder Singh, had allegedly 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 near 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, were recovered from the suspects, said the police.
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 officer said that Gurdial Singh was the chief operative of the terror module and was introduced to Lakhbir Singh Rode, who allegedly lives in an ISI-provided house in Lahore cantonment, by Germany-based Balvir Singh Sandhu — a former terrorist.
Gurdial had reportedly 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 Balvir Singh Sandhu are alleged to have criminal backgrounds, with cases registered against them in 1992 and 1988. A Thompson gun had been recovered from Gurdial in 1992. They have been booked under various sections the IPC, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Act.
Two terrorists — Maan Singh and Sher Singh — were arrested by the BSF in May in Punjab on similar charges.