Punjab News: Cops Arrest 5 Operatives Of Khalistan Liberation Force

Chandigarh: The Punjab police on Saturday claimed to have arrested five operatives of foreign-based Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), and foiled a conspiracy of Pak-ISI to disrupt the peace and harmony of the border state ahead of the Independence Day.

Elaborating upon the case, the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said that based on inputs that some terrorist elements based abroad had organised a terror module by recruiting foot-soldiers through criminals lodged in jails, and who were hatching a conspiracy to target minority leaders and other prominent persons, a case had been registered at the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), SAS Nagar.

2-week long operation to nab terrorists

"Around two-week long operation, which involved meticulous intelligence gathering, technical analysis, and swift action led to the apprehension of five operatives of this terrorist module involved in the nefarious plot," said DGP Gaurav Yadav.

He said investigations also revealed that the links of this new module had been established with the same foreign-based handler — which had targeted local Shiv Sena leader Rajeev Mahajan in Batala on June 24, and they were controlling this separate module through these operatives to carry out target killings in the state.

The DGP said that operatives of KLF by using the name of Ranjodh Singh, a fake name, had been on the lookout for foot-soldiers through people lodged in jail and added that they used fake narratives using social media to influence gullible youth and transfer money into their bank accounts to motivate them to carry out the targeted killings in Punjab.

Illegal weapons and ammunition seized

Sharing more details about the operation, AIG, SSOC, Ashwani Kapur said that it was discovered that foreign-based handlers of KLF had provided a list of target persons to the module members who had already conducted recce of some of targets. Two illegal weapons and live ammunition were also seized from the accused, police said.

Cops bust narco-crime syndicate

Meanwhile, the state police also claimed to have busted a narco-crime syndicate operated by gangster Ravi Balachauria and arrested two of its members. Police said that 1.2 kg of heroin, three pistols, 260 live cartridges and  ₹1.4 lakh drug money was also recovered from the accused.