KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
01-Mar-2020
The president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Gobind Singh Longowal sought action against the police officers who are harassing Sikh pilgrims returning back after paying obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan. Longowal said that it is a very bad routine which has panicked the pilgrims and it can affect the Kartarpur corridor if it is not stopped immediately. He also said that this practice of Punjab government seems an intentional step to bring the people of Punjab under suspicion due to which they are feeling alienated.
29-Feb-2020
A controversy erupted when a school in New Delhi questioned its seventh-grade students about a ‘Sikh militant group’ in one of the examinations. Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa demanded immediate action against the school and termed the incident as intentional brainwashing. He said that the school was brainwashing the students into blaming Sikhs and to term them as terrorists. As per the sources, the question has also upset the Sikh community in Punjab who feel that the question was not required since it is related to a particular religion.
28-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh said that Punjab Police had questioned some of the pilgrims returning through Kartarpur Corridor in the request of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), in the interest of national security. The CM, defending the police action, said that in fact, had the Gurdaspur police failed to cooperate with IB in the wake of security concerns expressed by the latter, he would have taken strict action against the former. He added that as the police force of a border state, the Punjab Police had acted within permissible limits of functioning in the matter.
28-Feb-2020
Police busted a drug racket and arrested two persons, identified as Kulwinder Singh and Raman Kumar along with 11 kg of heroin on the Sutlej bridge in Phillaur subdivision of Jalandhar district.
27-Feb-2020
A joint team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Special Task Force (STF) is investigating the possibility of linking the seizure of around 450-kg narcotics from a house in Sultanwind village in Punjab on January 31 with the seizure of around 300 kg of contraband by the ATS from Gujarat last year. The ATS also arrested three more suspects following the interrogation of cloth trader Ankush Kapoor and gym trainers Sukhdip Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Major Singh, who were arrested along with the contraband in the preliminary stages of the case.
27-Feb-2020
According to report, four Gurdaspur-based pilgrims, who had visited Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan in January this year, were questioned due to their not so convincing pilgrimage. The Intelligence Bureau (IB), in a letter written to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Gurdaspur, has sent details of four pilgrims who visited Kartarpur Sahib in January this year. The letter said all these pilgrims were questioned as the purpose of their visit was "not entirely convincing". Punjab Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, while reading the IB letter in Punjab Assembly on February 27, said,"The following Indian nationals visited Gurudwara Shri Kartarpur Sahib (GSKS) Pakistan via a corridor. During interrogation, the purpose of their visit was not entirely convincing. Anything of interest may kindly be shared with us.” Those interrogated by the IB are Sukhdeep Singh (who visited Kartarpur Sahib on January 25), Ranjit Singh (visited Kartarpur on January 25), Prabhjit Singh (visited Kartarpur on January 23), and an unnamed person hails from Bhikhriwal in Gurdaspurhad visited Kartarpur on January 23 and is also unemployed and is ‘keen to settle in Canada’.
26-Feb-2020
The Dal Khalsa, through a statement, sought the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for allowing non-state actors to collude and connive with Delhi police to unleash mayhem and terror on anti-CAA protesters. It said, “This is a gross failure of the entire Indian system comprising a hateful government, a biased bureaucracy and an indifferent justice system.”
26-Feb-2020
Police arrested a drug peddler who was out on bail, identified as Hardeep Singh alias Kaka and recovered 110 intoxicant injections and 110 bottles of intoxicant from his custody in Fatehgarh Sahib district.The preliminary investigation revealed that the peddler was earlier booked in NDPS Act and was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and has now just come out of jail after five years on bail and again started supplying drugs.
26-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh, while raising concerns about the security threat to the bordering state from Pakistan in State Assembly, revealed that “In three years what we have achieved through checking their (Pakistan) nefarious designs is that we have busted 32 terrorist modules propped up by them. We have arrested 154 terrorists, confiscated 41 rifles, 136 revolvers and pistols, 35 hand grenades including those used in the Nirankari Bhawan attack in Amritsar, 3.5 kg of RDX, two smart phones and Rs 30 lakhs in fake currency.”Showing pictures of Chinese drones, he said this was pressed by Pakistan into Punjab which was capable of carrying heavy payloads.“These are the drones which we were able to catch and we do not how many such drones are still there with people of Punjab. There are radical Sikhs in Punjab and several of them in countries abroad. Those NRIs go directly to Kartarpur Sahib. We do not know what they do there and who they meet”, he said.
25-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh, in the State Assembly, said that the Kartarpur Corridor would not be allowed to shut down at any cost. He said that Punjab government had left no stone unturned to make the corridor a success. The CM, while replying to the opposition demand to dismiss DGP Dinkar Gupta over his purported statements on Kartarpur Corridor, said that DGP had already apologized and the opposition was milking the issue for political capital.CM said that everyone should understand security concerns of the country vis-à-vis a hostile neighbour. Meanwhile, the CM defended his cabinet colleague, Bharat Bhushan Ashu after a suspended DSP had alleged that he had harboured a group of terrorists in 1992. He said, “The TADA case being raked by the opposition against the Minister has already been closed.”
25-Feb-2020
The Punjab State Assembly passed a resolution urging the Central government to ask Pakistan to do away with the condition that pilgrims using the Kartarpur Corridor must hold passports.The Assembly also sought a reduction in the USD 20 fee that Pakistan charges Indian pilgrims using the visa-free facility to visit the Sikh shrine in Kartarpur Sahib.
25-Feb-2020
The Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said that “DGP Dinkar Gupta’s should quit on moral grounds as his comments has hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs.” The Jathedar, who returned from Pakistan, said that if a Sikh could become an extremist after a six-hour visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, he had spent so many days in Pakistan but never returned to be so. “It is appreciable that the DGP had apologised for his objectionable comments. I do not insist but I believe that he should tender his resignation morally. His comments had hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs across the globe and it was an unpardonable mistake on his part to pass such remarks,” he added.
25-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh stated that the apprehensions of a threat to the security of the people and the country were serious, however these apprehensions are not because the Corridor (Kartarpur Corridor) has been opened but because of the 'Maardi Neeyat [bad intent] of Pakistan. He further added that "After meddling in Kashmir for long, the ISI had only one task now -- to disturb the peace of Punjab. Pakistan was blatantly trying to foment trouble in the state." He also pointed out that 35,000 Punjabis and 1,700 policemen had lost their lives, in addition to the Army soldiers, during the years of militancy in the stare, and our responsibility is to ensure this does not happen again.
24-Feb-2020
The opposition parties, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), raked up the issue of the controversial remark made by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta regarding pilgrims visiting the Kartarpur Gurudwara through the newly built corridor inside the State Assembly. The opposition parties also sought sacking of Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the backdrop of allegations levelled by suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Balwinder Singh Sekhon of masterminding a bomb blast in the Gur Mandi area of Ludhiana in 1992. Soon after ‘Question Hour’ started, members of SAD and AAP shouted slogans and demanded action against the DGP and the Cabinet Minister.
23-Feb-2020
The suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Balwinder Singh Sekhon accused the Food and Civil Supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu of masterminding a bomb blast at Gur Mandi area of Ludhiana in 1992. He also alleged that minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu is a former Khalistani terrorist who worked with Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) and demanded his removal for involvement in anti-national and heinous crimes. Balwinder Singh Sekhon said, "The statements given by Ashu to the police in 1992 say he was part of Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) that used to harbour arms and ammunition provided logistics support to Khalistani terrorists and was involved in the murder of three people including a lady Home Guard, Constable Shyam Sundar and his uncle. He is a very dangerous person and can kill me. He should be removed as a minister." Balwinder Singh Sekhon also accused that the minister not only conspired the 1992 Ludhiana bomb blast, but also confessed his involvement in a triple murder case reported the same year."Charanjit alias Swarnjit alias Channa a hardcore Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) besides five other ultras were associated with my father and used to visit my dairy located at Dairy Complex, Haibowal. I used to take care of their weapons as nobody suspected me", copies of a police statement claimed to have been given by Ashu to then SP City Ludhiana SS Sandhu on May 6, 1992, issued to the media said. He also said that Ashu had established links with the Khalistani terrorists to kill his uncle Jagdish Chand who he suspected had killed his parents.
22-Feb-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta said that there was no religious connotation in his remarks about Kartarpur Corridor made at an event on February 20. The DGP also said that his statements were misunderstood or ‘willfully misconstrued’. In a statement, he stated that “I rejoiced at the opening of the Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor which has fulfilled the decades-old aspirations of millions of devotees like myself all over the world who profess their faith in Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his divine teachings." "Their daily 'ardas' for 'khulle darshan-deedaar' of religious shrines, that are in post-Partition Pakistan, was finally answered. It was a matter of even greater happiness that it coincided with the 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji," he said. "As the state DGP, I assure that we will continue to strive to work towards facilitating trouble-free access to the holy shrine of Sri Kartarpur Sahib," he added. He also said that as the DGP of the state, which is faced with the continuing battle against violent extremism that continues to be funded and supported from across the border, he cannot overemphasize the need to remain vigilant. "I only red-flagged the obvious 'potential' for misuse by elements notorious for their hostility towards India and their effort to exploit every opportunity, even the most pious one, to disturb the peace and communal harmony," the DGP said.
22-Feb-2020
The opposition parties in Panjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accused DGP Dinkar Gupta of hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community by making irresponsible remarks in the context of pilgrims visiting the Kartarpur Gurudwara in Pakistan through the newly built corridor.The AAP leaders even demanded that a criminal case be filed against the DGP for his insensitive statement and that he be given the marching orders.
22-Feb-2020
The Dal Khalsa, in a letter urged the US president Donald Trump prior to his scheduled visit to India, to debunk India’s hollow arguments that whatever it does to its minorities is its internal matter. It also urged Trump to exert pressure on India to ensure respect for human rights of struggling nationalities and acceptance of their right to sovereign self-rule through the right to self-determination.The letter, which was sent via US Ambassador to India, was shared with the media by Kanwar Pal Singh and other office bearers at a press conference held at party office.
22-Feb-2020
Unidentified assailants opened fire outside Shiv Sena office at Chandigarh road in Sector 39 in Ludhiana. The bullet hit in the Ford Endeavor SUV parked outside the office. Shiv Sena (Hindustan) president Amit Arora and the party’s state youth president Mani Sheera were sitting inside the office.
21-Feb-2020
Police raided a ‘Dhani’ (a cluster of houses) and arrested four persons for drug peddling near Chamarkhera village on the Abohar-Sadulshehar road in Fazilka District.
21-Feb-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta said that the visa-free passage cleared for Sikh pilgrims at the Kartarpur Corridor was ‘a huge security challenge from a terrorism point of view’. He said that “Kartarpur offers a potential that you send somebody in the morning as an ordinary chap and by evening he comes back a trained terrorist. You are there for six hours, you can be taken to a firing range, you can be taught to make an IED.” “It is a huge concern… that is why it was not opened for all these years. I was in Intelligence Bureau for eight years… The feeling was that it (the corridor) will be a huge security challenge. But after that, as the community wanted it, the diaspora wanted it, it was decided why can’t this dream be realised. So, all those security concerns were put on the backburner,” the DGP said.
20-Feb-2020
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who was recently expelled by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), said that religious bodies like the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) should be kept out of politics. He said in Amritsar that "Akal Takht and SGPC should be away from politics as the institutions are purely religious."
20-Feb-2020
A recent report by a Deputy Commissioner to Punjab Chief Secretary suggests that cross-border smuggling of AK-47 rifles and contraband such as heroin is taking place in the garb of mining in the Ferozepur area in Punjab. The detailed report was submitted to a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is currently hearing petitions against the state and other respondents in the mines and minerals category.Taking a note of the report and the details, the Bench of Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh has sought action taken report in the matter.
19-Feb-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader, Anwar Masih in connection with the seizure of 450-kg drugs from his house at Akash Vihar in Sultanwind village in Amritsar district. This is the ninth arrest in the case. Anwar Masih, who is a former member of the Subordinate Services Selection Board, was produced in court, which sent him to two-day police custody. The investigation revealed that the accused refined and manufactured drugs in Masih’s house for more than a month before the racket was busted on January 30. When the drugs were seized, Masih had feigned ignorance about the nefarious activities in his house, which he had rented out to the accused.
19-Feb-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested a Sub-Inspector, Amandeep Singh Gill, station house officer (SHO) of the Division 2 police station, and his driver, Ajay Kumar along with 10 gm of heroin from Khasi Kalan village in Ludhiana district. They were part of a racket operating in Ludhiana with help of police officers who would allegedly “detain drug peddlers first and then keep drug recovered from them to either sell or consume”. The STF further claimed that this gang of police officials would later release these peddlers after taking huge sums as bribe. STF Inspector General RK Jaiswal said that while the alleged drug dealers' car and mobile phones were found hidden on the police station premises, the drugs were recovered from the SHO's residence.
19-Feb-2020
In a joint operation, Police along with the BSF, recovered 4.122 kg of heroin, 52 gm of opium, one China- made pistol, and 25 cartridges with two magazines which were 50 feet deep under the earth towards the Indian side from zero line in Tarn Taran district. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dhruv Dahiya said that it was the handiwork of Indian smugglers with the connivance of their counterparts across the border.
18-Feb-2020
A Sub Inspector (SI), identified as Pritpal Singh was arrested along with 20 gm of heroin when he was trying to smuggle drugs inside the Sangrur Jail in Sangrur district.
18-Feb-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested a money exchanger, identified as Harmeet Singh in connection with the seizure of 450-kg drugs, from Amritsar. The STF claimed that detained money exchanger might have involvement in the making payments for drugs.
18-Feb-2020
Activists of various Sikh organisations including former Akal Takht Jathedars, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti and Giani Gurbachan Singh staged a street march demanding the status of ‘holy city’ for Amritsar and removal of meat shops, liquor vends and tobacco stores from the vicinity of the Golden Temple, bus stand and railway stations.They urged the Punjab government to remove these shops and vends as it hurt the sanctity of the city and religious sentiments of the devotees visiting the Golden Temple.
18-Feb-2020
According to Mumbai police sources, the arrest of several members of an international gang of drug smugglers operating from Canada, Jalandhar in Punjab and Sydney in Australia has shed light on the possible links of some of them to the Khalistan movement. As per Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) statement in December 2019, nine members of the gang, including some foreigners, were arrested last year from different parts of North India, including Punjab, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Five of the arrested were Indians of whom two are from Jalandhar. Sources said that the drug smuggling racket was run by Canadian nationals of Indian-origin who had migrated from Punjab. At least some of them are suspected to be part of the Khalistan movement still active in Canada. The racket came to light last June after the authorities in Australia intercepted a plasma cutting machine in which more than 55 kg of cocaine were concealed.
17-Feb-2020
According to NIA sources, for the past few months, reports of links between Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and Khalistani militants have been surfacing in the media. The growing incidents of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones dropping arms and drugs in the border districts of Punjab, which shares a border with Pakistan, have raised an alarm for security agencies. The speculations are that JeM’s support to Khalistan outfit will revive the militancy in Punjab state as well. The investigation agencies also received inputs that the two HM terrorists, recently arrested with a Jammu and Kashmir police officer, had connections with Khalistani outfits in Punjab as well. Even an over ground worker (OGW) arrested in the January 31 encounter had revealed that a group of terrorists associated with JeM existed in Amritsar in Punjab. Furthermore, in September 2019, Punjab state authorities had warned the central government after eight drones were allegedly used by Pakistan to airdrop a large number of AK-47 assault rifles and grenades into Amritsar city.“It is the jihadi outfits who have shared the drone capabilities with the Khalistani groups, and our understanding is that outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have a whole inventory of these drones,” the Director General of Police (DG), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta said.
17-Feb-2020
The Punjab and Haryana High Court described Pakistan as “enemy nation” before denying bail to a 78-year-old man arrested on the basis of suspicion in a case revolving around cross-border smuggling of narcotics. While dismissing the bail plea of the petitioner who was arrested in 2018 for drug smuggling, Justice Ramendra Jain asserted that “This court is not inclined to grant concession of regular bail to the petitioner, keeping in view the heavy recovery of narcotics near the fencing of Indian border, adjoining enemy nation Pakistan.”
17-Feb-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested two more persons, identified as Malkeet Singh and Kuldeep Singh in connection with the seizure of 450 kg of drugs, including 197 kg heroin in Patra in Patiala district. According to STF officials, the accused used to work as couriers and they used to smuggle heroin in the holy city (Amritsar) on the directions of cloth trader and kingpin Ankush Kapoor. Investigations also revealed that they had ferried around 200 kg of heroin so far. With the arrest of the duos, the STF has so far arrested nine persons in the case.
17-Feb-2020
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa demanded immediate citizenship for around 160 Pakistani Hindu, Sikh refugee families who have been living in unhygienic conditions in jhuggis and semi-permanent structures on the Yamuna floodplain near Majnu Ka Tila in north Delhi. He said that around 60 of these families had reached Delhi from Pakistan between February 2 and 15, while 10 families had come just a day ago.
16-Feb-2020
Police arrested one person, identified as Vishav along with 21 gm of heroin from near DSP chowk in Fazilka district. Sources said that Vishav had been bringing the contraband from Nawan Salemshah village.
16-Feb-2020
Police arrested two persons, identified as Karan Kumar and Sajan Kumar, for allegedly taking drugs at a secluded place near gate number 2 of the local grain market in Fazilka district. Police recovered 2 gm of heroin from them.
16-Feb-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta said that after the interrogation of gangster Sukhpreet Budda and arms supplier Ashish, the Punjab police had found that their two key aides - Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga and Gurvinder Singh alias Pehalwan - had a nexus with operators in Pakistan. Both the accused were arrested and one-kg heroin and Pakistan SIM cards were seized in a joint operation of the Organised Crime Control Unit and Mohali police on February 13. Investigation so far has revealed that the duo had received a large quantity of heroin and fake Indian currency from Pakistan through various routes via different modes. They were wanted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Rajasthan Police and Punjab Police in cases related to receiving huge consignments of heroin from Pakistan.
15-Feb-2020
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) objected to the restoration of the 17th century palace in Delhi, Sheesh Mahal where sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s coronation took place in 1658. DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa and other members on February 15 called the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb “a cruel leader and a murderer,” and said that it was unfortunate that the decision to renovate the structure was taken in the 400th birth anniversary year of Guru Tegh Bahadur. “Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed his life against Aurangzeb’s attempts of forceful conversions. It is surprising that Aurangzeb has been glorified despite his atrocities on Sikh gurus. People need to be reminded of his bloody past, instead of glorifying things associated with him,” said Sirsa, who is also a member of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
14-Feb-2020
Police arrested two persons, identified as Hardeep Singh and Janaki Prashad for their alleged involvement in drug smuggling and recovered 4 kg opium from their possession from the T-point on Sirhind-Patiala road near Chaurwala village in Fatehgarh Sahib district.
14-Feb-2020
A Sikh leaders delegation led by the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa met the Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh and requested his intervention to end monopoly on the live telecast of Gurbani from Golden Temple. However, Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh directed the preachers to refrain from controversial issues while delivering discourse on Gurbani. He said that the purpose was to spread a message that the preaching references should be quoted only from Gurbani so that there should be no confusion among the Sikhs.
13-Feb-2020
The top Sikh body, Akal Takht extended its support to the Muslim groups that have been protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for weeks. After meeting with a delegation led by Delhi Minority Commission chief Zafarul Islam Khan, the Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpeet Singh stated that there is a sentiment of fear and insecurity among the minorities and the Sikhs are bound to stand by the oppressed. "Sikhs are bound by their principles to stand for the victim and against injustice. We had received a similar request from another group of the Muslim community. There is a sentiment of fear and insecurity among minorities and it is not good for the country," he said. He asked the Muslim leaders to also seek the support of Hindu groups against the CAA.
13-Feb-2020
An undertrial drug smuggler, identified as Manjit Singh alias Chappi escaped from the police custody after he was produced before a Sessions Court in Hoshiarpur in Punjab.
13-Feb-2020
Punjab Police on February 13 claimed that they have arrested 23 criminals from Ferozepur and adjoining states Haryana and Rajasthan, based on information revealed by the gangster Sukhpreet Singh alias Budha who was arrested in November 2019. Budha, the wanted gangster, was deported from Armenia and arrested when he landed at the Delhi airport in November 2019. The DGP, Dinkar Gupta said that "Budha made several revelations, which led the state police to solve many untraced heinous crimes in Punjab."He added that the arrested criminals were facing charges of murder, dacoity and extortion, kidnapping and targeted killing. Police have also recovered 36 firearms from the criminals and four shops dealing in guns have been sealed.
13-Feb-2020
The officiating Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Harpreet Singh said that he would be happy to receive Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu but in the presence of kin of those who were killed during the tenure of Beant Singh as Chief Minister. Bittu, the grandson of Beant Singh, on February 12 said he wanted to ask the Jathedar about what action he intended to take against him. Earlier, Bittu had objected to the Jathedar’s remarks hailing Paramjit Singh Bheora, convicted in the Beant assassination case.
13-Feb-2020
An unidentified caller threatened to kill the Congress’ Member of Parliament (MP) from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu and another local party leader Gursimran Singh Mand in Punjab. Gursimran Singh Mand said that the caller gave the threat in a three-minute long call on February 13 evening in which the person also used abusive language against late Chief Minister Beant Singh. Ravneet Singh Bittu is the grandson of Beant Singh who was killed by Khalistani militants in 1995. Bittu had been threatened by the radical Khalistani elements earlier as well.
12-Feb-2020
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) special court in Mohali issued Non-Bailable Warrants (NBWs) against two Khalistani terrorists belonging to the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) in a case related to dropping of arms and ammunition in Punjab by drones originating from Pakistan. NBWs were issued against KZF chief Ranjeet Singh Neeta,a resident of R. S. Pura in Jammu, who is based in Pakistan at present and Gurmeet Singh alias Bagga, a resident of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab who is based in Germany now. An NIA spokesperson said that, "During investigation, role of Neeta, Pakistan based chief of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), a proscribed terrorist organisation and Singh, a key operative of KZF based in Hamburg, Germany has been found in the conspiracy of trafficking of illegal arms, ammunition, explosives, communication devices and FICNs into India to further terrorist activities." The duo is wanted for dropping arms and ammunition and fake currency notes in September 2019 at Chola Sahib in Punjab via unmanned aerial vehicles or drones that originated from Pakistan. A case against the two was filed under Sections 489-A, 489-B, 489-C and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Prisoners Act in Amritsar.Nine persons have been arrested in this case till now and the probe is ongoing, the NIA spokesperson said.
12-Feb-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta expressed the need for modern anti-drone technology to check the menace of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have been making drugs and weapons drops in the Punjab region since last year. He said that the state police was in talks with the Indian Air Force (IAF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indian Army and intelligence agencies to counter the drone menace, which, he feared, could lead to the next round of militancy in the state. Punjab Police is concerned about the growing use of technology in a narco-terrorism racket from across the border in Pakistan, with about 40 movements of sophisticated UAVs noticed in the Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozpur and Fazilka districts of Punjab.
12-Feb-2020
According to Indian official sources, since the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mounted pressure against Pakistan government, terror groups based in Pakistan have been smuggling weapons for their recruits in Jammu and Kashmir via Punjab. It said that since the February 2019 Pulwama suicide attack, dozens of weapons enroute Jammu and Kashmir, have been seized in Punjab. There has also been a rise in the Pakistan-originating Chinese drones dropping weapons and communication devices in Punjab following the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5, 2019.Pakistan-based terror groups have sent at least eight drone sorties, air-dropping 80 kg of weapons in Punjab during the last few months, sources said.
12-Feb-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested three persons, identified as Simarjit Singh alias Simmi, Varinder Kumar alias Vinkal and Rajwant Singh alias Raj and recovered 200 gm of heroin, besides one country-made pistol and two live rounds from them in Ferozepur district.
11-Feb-2020
Police arrested two persons, Balwinder Singh and Balwinder Singh and recovered 24 kg of poppy husk from near Kikarwala Rupa village in Fazilka district.