CHANDIGARH: In a joint operation by the Punjab police and the Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday, security forces arrested two extremists having links with a terror module that was planning attacks in Punjab.
Sources said the two terrorists have been identified as 28-year-old Sher Singh from Kartarpur in Jalandhar and 40-year-old Mann Singh from Hargobindpur in Gurdaspur. They were arrested on the Indo-Pak border while trying to recover the weapons buried in the Indian territory brought from Pakistan.
A huge cache of arms was seized that included an AK-47 rifle with three magazines and 157 live rounds, an MP 9 modified rifle with two magazines, five 7.62 mm pistols with nine magazines and 205 live rounds of ammunition, a 9 mm pistol with two magazines and 77 live rounds and five hand grenades; a 0.32 bore revolver with 39 live rounds; a 315 bore rifle with one magazine and 17 live rounds.
The arms and ammunitions seized during the operation were found buried close to the Indo-Pak border and the suspects had been provided with the co-ordinates of the spot. They had reached the border early on Sunday morning and were trying to look for the spot when the BSF personnel nabbed them.
During preliminary interrogation, both terrorists reportedly told the police that their module was raised and indoctrinated by an Canada-based Sikh hardliner, Gurjivan Singh, who had made two trips to Punjab in the last six months. He had arranged the arms and ammunitions for their operations through his Khalistani contacts in Pakistan.
They also disclosed that Gurjivan Singh had been in touch with them for the past two years and had motivated them to commit terror strikes in Punjab. In his last two trips, Singh had imparted them theoretical training in handling AK-47rifles.
They had also gone to Uttar Pradesh with him to procure arms but failed to get any. So he promised to get arms and ammunition from his Khalistani contacts and ISI handlers in Pakistan.
During questioning, Mann Singh also confessed he had visited Pakistan many times and was in touch with some Khalistani terrorists there. Further interrogation of the suspects is in progress and immigration records are being retrieved to track Gurjivan's movement.