Chandigarh: With the arrest of four people, the Punjab Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a terror module of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), backed by a group based in Pakistan and Germany.
Police said the terror group was conspiring to unleash a series of strikes in Punjab and adjoining states. A huge cache of arms, including five AK-47 rifles, pistols, satellite phones and hand grenades, was seized from them. Given the international links and ramifications of the conspiracy, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has decided to hand over further investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), an official spokesman said.
Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta said the four members of the module were arrested from the outskirts of Chohla Sahib village in Tarn Taran district of Punjab on Sunday. "They were using a white coloured Maruti Swift car bearing a Punjab registration number," Gupta said.
With the initial investigation revealing the use of drones to deliver weapons and communication hardware across the border, the Chief Minister has urged the Union government to direct the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) to launch necessary counter-measures.
According to Dinkar Gupta, the weapons were suspected to have been delivered recently from across the border by the ISI, state-sponsored jihadi and pro-Khalistani terrorist outfits working under its command.
"The large-scale infiltration appeared to have been aimed at scaling terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the Indian hinterland in the wake of the recent developments in the Valley," Gupta said in a statement. Gupta said the operation was based on inputs gathered from sources that activists of the banned KZF had planned to carry out multiple terrorist strikes in J-K, Punjab and other states.
Dinkar Gupta said the module was backed by Pakistan-based chief of the KZF, Ranjeet Singh, alias Neeta; and his Germany-based associate Gurmeet Singh, alias Bagga, alias Doctor, who had re-organised their group to revive terrorism in Punjab.