Punjab: Two linked to UK terror group held, grenades, pistols seized

Chandigarh: The Punjab Police have arrested two terrorists and recovered two hand grenades and as many pistols from their possession, an official statement said on Monday.

This comes days after the recovery of an improvised explosive device (IED) concealed in a tiffin box along with five hand grenades and 100 rounds of 9 mm pistol from a village in Amritsar.

The Punjab Police arrested the two militants allegedly linked to a UK-based terrorist entity from Amritsar on Sunday night, the statement said.

According to Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta, the duo was allegedly operating on the directions of UK-based terrorist Gurpreet Singh Khalsa alias Gurpreet, and had been tasked with retrieving weapons consignment sent from across the border.

The consignment was most likely delivered in the border area around Attari-Jhabal Road some days ago, he said in a statement.

In view of the large number of intel inputs indicating plans by Pakistan-based ISI and terrorist elements based abroad to carry out an attack in India on or around Independence Day, police had made extensive security arrangements at the borders, he said.

Special security checkpoints were set up and patrolling was intensified round-the-clock, he added.

On the night of August 15, two motorcycle-borne men were stopped by police personnel deployed at a checkpoint near AddaKhalsa. The duo failed to produce valid documents pertaining to the ownership of the vehicle, the DGP said.